Zittrain: No Get Out Of Jail Free Card For Jailbreak Developers

There's been much ado about DMCA's latest ruling , particularly its "jailbreaking" provision, which allows users to run applications that are not approved by their phone maker (ahem, Apple). In less than 24 hours, hundreds have opined on the matter, some wondering what kind of Pandora's box this ruling could unleash upon iPhone's carefully manicured Garden of Eden. Take for instance, PC World's Lance Ulanoff, who described an "open season on iPhone, AT&T and others," a world where jailbreaking services banded, "together to create a business organization. They could sue Apple and AT&T, claiming the companies [were] undermining their ability to conduct business." While the image of newly empowered developers taking pitchforks to Apple's guarded ecosystem is a vivid one, Jon Zittrain , Harvard Law professor of internet law and the author of The Future Of The Internet And How To Stop It , doesn't buy it. Video ahead.