Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Mobile & Wireless

Should Jailbreaking be Exempted from the DMCA?

What does Jailbreaking Mean for the State of Consumer Device Security?

What does Jailbreaking Mean for the State of Consumer Device Security?

In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to circumvent DRM (rights management software or code) on any device. Translation – you can be sued or worse if you jailbreak devices such as your Android or PS3 (remember GeoHot?). But the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wants to change that. So what will it do to the state of security should jailbreaking be exempted?

Last week, the EFF asked the U.S. Copyright Office to grant an exemption within the DMCA for jailbreaking smartphones, tables, and gaming consoles. They also asked for legal protections for artists and critics who use excerpts from DVDs or downloading services to create new, remixed works.

Interestingly enough, the EFF has been down this road before, and in 2009, convinced the USCO to exempt jailbreaking iPhones from the DMCA. Apple wasn’t pleased, to say the least. The recent request expands and renews the previous exemptions.

“The DMCA is supposed to block copyright infringement. But instead it can be misused to threaten creators, innovators, and consumers, discouraging them from making full and fair use of their own property,” said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry.

“Hobbyists and tinkerers who want to modify their phones or video game consoles to run software programs of their choice deserve protection under the law. So do artists and critics who use short excerpts of video content to create new works of commentary and criticism. Copyright law shouldn’t be stifling such uses – it should be encouraging them.”

So assuming the renewal and expansion request is granted, what does that mean for the state of consumer device security, especially when those devices are found inside corporate environments, performing both personal and business related tasks?

“The good? In addition to the freedom to do what you like with your devices, it provides an opportunity to make them more secure if you have the knowledge. For example you can load an updated Android operating system that has security fixes long before your vendor gets around to providing you with the official fix,” noted Sophos’ Chester Wisniewski.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

On the other hand, he adds, “Once you have removed the protective aura from your device you may be getting into deeper water than you can swim in. A perfect example of this was the ikee worm for iOS. Not only did it Rickroll your iPhone, it only worked if it was jailbroken… Knowledgeable hackers would change the password or disable the service, but people looking for free hacked version of Angry Birds didn’t know they were at risk.”

Written By

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Artificial Intelligence

Two of humanity’s greatest drivers, greed and curiosity, will push AI development forward. Our only hope is that we can control it.

Mobile & Wireless

Infonetics Research has shared excerpts from its Mobile Device Security Client Software market size and forecasts report, which tracks enterprise and consumer security client...

Mobile & Wireless

Samsung smartphone users warned about CVE-2023-21492, an ASLR bypass vulnerability exploited in the wild, likely by a spyware vendor.

Malware & Threats

Apple’s cat-and-mouse struggles with zero-day exploits on its flagship iOS platform is showing no signs of slowing down.

Fraud & Identity Theft

A team of researchers has demonstrated a new attack method that affects iPhone owners who use Apple Pay and Visa payment cards. The vulnerabilities...

Mobile & Wireless

Critical security flaws expose Samsung’s Exynos modems to “Internet-to-baseband remote code execution” attacks with no user interaction. Project Zero says an attacker only needs...

Mobile & Wireless

Apple rolled out iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura 13.2 to cover serious security vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity Funding

Los Gatos, Calif-based data protection and privacy firm Titaniam has raised $6 million seed funding from Refinery Ventures, with participation from Fusion Fund, Shasta...