Do you want to jailbreak your iPhone? You might be a criminal, according to Apple.

In the statistical distribution of the events that may lead you, iPhone user, to desire to jailbreak your phone, a significant event, at least according to Apple's lawyers, is the probability you're a criminal. More specifically, a drug dealer. So likely, that this is the first example they provide to the Copyright Office of the United States of America.

You might have been reading my concerns about the iPhone and the limitations that Apple is willingly enforcing. My concerns are sincere concerns from an user standpoint.

I've just been reading Apple's response to the following question, submitting by no less than the Copyright Office of the United States of America:

Does “jailbreaking” violate a license agreement between Apple and the purchaser of an iPhone? If so, please explain what provision it violates and whether “jailbreaking” constitutes copyright infringement?

You can download and read the entire response, if you want. I don't want to spare you such joyful reading, but I really feel like citing this one:

For example, each iPhone contains a unique Exclusive Chip Identification (ECID) number that identifies the phone to the cell tower. With access to the BBP via jailbreaking, hackers may be able to change the ECID, which in turn can enable phone calls to be made anonymously (this would be desirable to drug dealers, for example) or charges for the calls to be avoided.

That's the kind of issues raised by the situation in which you're using something that may harm yourself and the others. Now, Apple just forgets that nowadays you can install your applications on a very wide range of mobile devices. The Java Virtual Machine for mobiles is installed in millions of devices, so is Windows Mobile. Substitute it with the OS you like. It's just Apple that's protecting you even from yourself. Or it's just protecting its monopoly and cash flow?

Whichever the answer, if you'd like to be able to use your phone and you're not a criminal, you're not evil, and you're not a drug dealer, you can for example sum up to the Defective By Design initiative and protest against Apple.