“The legal status of unlocking an Apple iPhone is somewhat murky, as the main law in this area is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids the circumvention of copy-protection technology. But last year the copyright office created an exemption ‘for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network,'” Richard Koman reports for NewsFactor.
“The battle of the iPhone hackers erupted over the weekend, after teenager George Holz released a YouTube video showing his iPhone connecting to the T-Mobile network. Apple’s iPhones come locked so they only operate with AT&T’s network,” Koman reports.
“Following Holz’s announcement on Friday, several other groups announced software hacks [including] iPhoneSimFree [and iPhoneUnlocking who intended to sell the software],” Koman reports.
The law “clearly protects people like Holz, who has said his sole interest in the hacking project was to be able to use his iPhone on his family’s T-Mobile service. But the DMCA might not protect groups such as iPhoneSimFree and iPhoneUnlocking,” Koman reports.
Full article here.