Jailbreakers And SOPA: Let's Hope Apple's On Our Side
January 19, 2012
If you visited AppAdvice today, you probably noticed our "blackout." And, unless you've been living under a rock of late, you're probably aware exactly what and why we are protesting. For those somehow still in the dark, the American congressional SOPA and PIPA bills threaten to destroy the internet as we know it, supplanting the free flow of information with a far-reaching, blanketed, mindless censorship the likes of which we've only seen in the most dystopian of popular fiction.
And, unfortunately, jailbreakers might be more immediately affected than anyone (if that's even possible). We'll let iDownloadBlog explain:
Even though the US Government made jailbreaking legal back in 2010, the distribution of jailbreaking software could be deemed illegal under SOPA because it contains Apple’s [reversed-engineered] IP. That would mean that one phone call from the Cupertino company could effectively shut down sites that host the software.(The above excerpt is potentially illegal. iDownloadBlog, please don't have the government shut us down!) Of course, Apple is against the ratification of SOPA and PIPA (we think!), and it's unlikely Cook and company would turn totally adversarial at the bang of an approving gavel. Still, it's definitely some (rotten) food for thought, and we hope it's the impetus you need to get those emails and phone calls out to your state representatives ASAP. [Image: musicians4freedom.com]