“Mozilla Corp. is backing a move that would nullify copyright infringement charges against people who ‘jailbreak’ their iPhones, a practice that Apple Inc. considers against the law,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld.
“In comments submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office, the maker of Firefox said it supports the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in its request for an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The EFF wants the Copyright Office to let users jailbreak their phones without fear of copyright infringement penalties,” Keizer reports. “Apple opposes the exemption, and in its own filing with the Copyright Office, has said that jailbreaking is a violation of copyright laws that protect its software.”
Keizer reports, “Apple includes a version of its own Safari browser on the iPhone, and decides which third-party applications can be downloaded from its App Store online mart, the only authorized distribution channel.”
Keizer reports, “Mozilla would be unlikely to craft a version of Firefox for the iPhone, said Mozilla CEO John Lilly. ‘The SDK is very clear, that Flash and Firefox and other runtimes are not welcome on the iPhone,’ he said… Opera Software ASA, a Norwegian company noted for its mobile browser, has come to the same decision. According to CEO Jon von Tetzchner, Opera considered and then abandoned development for the iPhone when it realized that Apple’s SDK license barred other browsers.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]
