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Charles Herold

EFF Asks U.S. Copyright Office to Allow Console Modding

By , About.com GuideDecember 8, 2011

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The Escapist reports that the Electronic Frontier Foundation is asking the U.S. Copyright Office to change the Digital Millennium Copyright Act so that it is legal to jailbreak phones and game consoles.  Currently companies can go after those who alter the electronic equipment you own, but if the EFF has its way, owning a Wii, a PS3 or an iPhone means you have the right to do what you want with it, whether it's using it to run different software or turn it into a planter (which may or may not be technically illegal).

If the Copyright Office agrees, this would mean corporations could no longer go after people for altering equipment they own (unless it breaks some other law; you still couldn't legally turn an iPhone into a bomb).  Of course, it doesn't mean companies can't continue to release "updates" that strip out any changes you've made.

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