Regulation makes unlocked iPhone legal

WASHINGTON -- Owners of the iPhone will be able to legally unlock their devices so they can run software applications that haven't been approved by Apple Inc., according to government rules announced Monday.

The decision to allow the practice commonly known as "jailbreaking" is one of a handful of exemptions from a 1998 federal law that prohibits people from bypassing technical measures that companies put on their products to prevent unauthorized use of copyright-protected material.

The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, reviews and authorizes exemptions every three years to ensure that the law does not prevent certain non-infringing uses of copyright-protected works.

For iPhone jailbreakers, the new rules effectively exempt the practice from liability. Apple claims that jailbreaking is an unauthorized modification of its software.

Unless users unlock their handsets, they can only download apps from Apple's iTunes store.

Although Apple has never prosecuted anyone for jailbreaking, it does use software upgrades to disable jailbroken phones, and the new government rules won't put a stop to that. That means owners of such phones might not be able to take advantage of software improvements, and they still risk voiding their warranty.

Apple spokesman Natalie Kerris said Monday that the company is concerned about jailbreaking because the practice can make an iPhone unstable and unreliable.

Other exemptions announced Monday would:

--Allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.

--Allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.

--Allow college professors, film students, documentary filmmakers and producers of noncommercial videos to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism or commentary.

--Allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.

--Allow blind people to break locks on electronic books so that they can use them with read-aloud software.

The new rules take effect today and are expected to last a few years.