I was recently introduced to jailbreaking through a friend of mine. I received an iPhone this past Christmas and have had a love/hate relationship with it ever since. With my constant whining and complaining, I was contacted by a friend to check out jailbreaking. What is jailbreaking? How easy is it to download and access? What do I get out of it? And is it Legal?

Jailbreaking is a new term for the old standby hacking. It allows for access to other operating systems not provided through Apple on your iPhone. Apparently, jailbreaking has been around since the inception of the iPhone back in 2007. Back then though, it was a difficult and complicated process only true hackers were able to crack. Over the years since, jailbreaking has become easier and accessible to anyone who Googles the word jailbreaking. There you will find millions of hits for blogs, forums, information and how-tos for jailbreaking. In fact, there are programs like BlackRa1n by GeoHot which makes it as easy as plug and click done, youre jailbreaking.

Jailbreaking allows people to unlock their iPhones and activate it on another GSM carrier. You get access to app stores which are not governed by Apple, customizable home screens and change the look of your smartphone/iPhone. Thats the small stuff; the bigger stuff comes by way of Cydia which is an app provider. Cydia has apps which will allow you to shoot and save video, cut, copy and paste and MMS. The regular iPhone doesnt allow for multitasking, but once you jailbreak you can listen to Pandora radio, while sending emails and checking your calendar. Cydia also has an app which allows you to customize your home screen with different colors, themes as well as change the look of your app icons, group all of your game app under one icon, etc this is great for organizing your phone and being up to date. There is also the ability to run several pages and apps at one time including texting, the kids love this one. You are able to upload pictures and video to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, which is near to impossible with the iPhone.

What about the legal aspects of jailbreaking? Well, Apple would have you believe that it is a copy infringement and thusly illegal. However according to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) which governs such things, it is fair to jailbreak even though you are using Apples copy write code. According to them, reverse engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of fostering interoperability with independently created software. In other words, if Apple doesnt offer it you can go elsewhere. I love this capitalist stuff.

Listen, jailbreaking is just another progression of the smartphone market. In these early years on the communication highway, programmers, hackers, and everyday inquisitive people can do what they will in the name of progress. Time will tell what will happen in future years, but for right now, its all open territory. Get out there on the information highway and get yours. Its fair, legal, and if you dont do it someone else will. Thats okay with me, as long as they share their information.