I just read a blog post detailing Apple’s claim that hacking the iPhone to run non-approved applications violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Let me start by saying I’m not a lawyer… nor do I really ever care to be. However, I personally think Apple’s view is a bunch of nonsense.
For starters, Apple is stupid – REALLY STUPID – for only allowing the iPhone to only run on the AT&T network. I understand they probably got a huge chunk of money up front for that deal, but in the long run (I feel) they’re going to suffer because they’re limiting the number of people that use their software.
Secondly, as far as I understand Internet law, most user-agreements and software licenses allow users to modify the source code so long as they don’t distribute the changes. I can’t say if that’s part of the iPhone deal, but what exactly does Apple have to lose here? We still have to buy the iPhone and its packaged software… which ultimately ties us to AT&T.
As a user of open-source technology, I can say with complete certainty that software only gets better as a result of the greater community tinkering with the code. I firmly believe this would drive Apple’s development costs down while creating a huge user-base to whom Apple could freely advertise.
I do understand Apple’s point — but they’re beginning to act an awful lot like their nemesis Microsoft.
About Arthur Kay 
