From Fox News
New Rules Coming!
The Librarian of Congress announced new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Oct. 25 that will impact what consumers are and are not allowed to do with smartphones, tablets, game consoles and e-readers for the next three years.
Smartphones and tablets
The new rules, which go into effect Oct. 28, will let consumers jailbreak or root their smartphones, but not tablet computers and home gaming consoles. Digital-rights activists had sought exemptions for the latter devices as well.
The most drastic difference between the old set of rules, which went into effect at the end of 2009, and the new one is that smartphones can no longer legally be unlocked by the user.
Jailbreaking, aka rooting, involves taking full control of a device, which would let the user run software unauthorized by the manufacturer. Unlocking allows a smartphone or tablet to run on a cellular network other than the one it was intended for.
Smartphones purchased before Jan. 30, 2013, can still legally be unlocked by the user, but those bought after that must stay on their original carrier at least for the duration of a customer’s contract.
A 2010 ruling that said consumers merely license, rather than own, software is behind the rule change on unlocking phones.
That rule invalidates customers’ fair-use claims and means only the carrier can legally unlock a phone.
Obtaining unlocked phones, however, is much easier today than it was three years ago. AT&T will now unlock customers’ smartphones once they’re out of contract. Verizon Wireless sells the iPhone 5 unlocked right out of the box.
The Librarian of Congress, James Billington, cited overly broad vagueness as being behind the disparate rules separating phones and what can be considered a "tablet." An "e-book reading device might be considered a tablet, as might a handheld video game device," he explained.
The new rules also prohibit cracking game consoles such as PlayStations and Xboxes in order to run applications and software not intended by the maker.
There are also new rules for ripping/coping DVD’s and E-Readers, read up so you can be informed.
-Bryan