Justifiable 'jailbreaks' on the Apple iPhone

[Commentary] Want an iPhone? Hate AT&T? Used to be, the only way to remedy this common problem was to clandestinely "jailbreak" your phone, so that you could switch to a more reliable network. Tech nuts also did the jailbreak so that they could load applications or programs on their phones that Apple didn't offer. Thanks to the Library of Congress, which can define exceptions to copyright law, it's now legal for consumers to break out. The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation asked for an exception, and it won.

Apple needs to accept that its consumers are as smart as it is. The company's attempt to control the "user experience" after it had sold the product was an affront to consumers everywhere - imagine if Chevy told buyers that after they bought cars, they weren't allowed to customize them with after-market speakers, engine performance boosters or fancy wheels. Apple is still likely to void the warranties of people who jailbreak their phones, and that isn't right either. Consumers who choose iPhone freedom will have to think carefully about this risk, but it's unlikely that most of them will jailbreak their phones anyway.