"Estimates put the number of iPhone owners who have jailbroken
their phones in the hundreds of thousands.
"As part of the 2009 DMCA rulemaking, EFF has asked the
Copyright Office to recognize an exemption to the DMCA to permit
jailbreaking in order to allow iPhone owners to use their phones
with applications that are not available from Apple's store (e.g.,
turn-by-turn directions, using the iPhone camera for video, laptop
tethering).
"Apple's copyright infringement claim starts with the
observation that jailbroken iPhones depend on modified versions of
Apple's bootloader and operating system software. True enough -- we
said as much in our technical white paper describing the jailbreak
process. But the courts have long recognized that copying software
while reverse engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of
fostering interoperability with independently created software, a
body of law that Apple conveniently fails to mention."
