Firefox developers Mozilla and leading VoIP service Skype have both backed calls from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for iPhone jailbreaking to be exempt from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Appleinsider reports that the exemption would "strip Apple of its ability to charge groups with DMCA violations for circumventing the iPhone's security by modifying Apple's internal iPhone software, as long as they did it under the cover of 'enabling interoperability', according to the exemption wording proposed by the EFF."
Apple's corporate paternalism
The EFF's Fred von Lohmann has referred to Apple's iPhone security strategy as "corporate paternalism."
Elsewhere, Mozilla's CEO John Lilly said, in a recent Computerworld report, that the iPhone's "SDK [software development kit] is very clear, that Flash and Firefox and other runtimes are not welcome on the iPhone," adding that he doubted "Mozilla would venture into the iPhone even if the Copyright Office grants the DMCA exemption over jailbreaking."
Mozilla is, of course, developing its own mobile browser Fennec for use on multiple other mobile platforms.
Meanwhile, leading VoIP service Skype has also backed the EFF's exemption request, claiming that "copyright law should not interfere with a user using his or her phone to run Skype and enjoy the benefits of low- or no-cost long-distance and international calling."
