JAILBREAK!

The Library of Congress issued a decision on Monday that lets you run software on your smart phone even if Apple or HTC or whoever made the phone doesn’t approve it. It’s a process called “jailbreaking”.

(from USA Today / AP):

In addition to jailbreaking, other exemptions announced Monday would:

• allow owners of used cellphones 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 and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.

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