Jailbreaking and the Law of Reversing

Architecture and Background

Jailbreaking and the Law of Reversing Fred Von Lohmann Senior Staff Attorney, EFF Jennifer Granick Civil Liberties Director, EFF Using jailbreaking of the iPhone as a primary example, the presentation will be an overview of the laws relating to reverse engineering of hardware and software. Developers who rely on reverse engineering face a thicket of potential legal obstacles, including license agreements, copyright, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Taking iPhone jailbreaking as real-world example, we will review the legal theories Apple has asserted, shedding light on the major legal pitfalls that developers face, and what they can do to avoid them and minimize risks. We will also examine the additional legal issues raised by reverse engineering networked code, such as online video games. The presentation stems from the presenters' experience as attorneys with EFF's "Coder's Rights Project," as well as their efforts to persuade the U.S.

Vulnerability Analysis

Copyright Office to grant a DMCA exemption for removing application locks on smartphones (including the iPhone and Android G1). Fred Von Lohmann is a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in intellectual property matters. In that role, he has represented programmers, technology innovators, and individuals in a variety of copyright and trademark litigation, including MGM v. Grokster, decided by the Supreme Court in 2005. In 2008, Fred was named one of the 50 leading intellectual property lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, a leading legal newspaper, which also honored him as among the 100 most influential lawyers in California from 2004-08.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

Before joining EFF, Fred was a visiting researcher with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and an associate with the international law firm of Morrison&Foerster LLP. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, ABC's Good Morning America, and Fox News O'Reilly Factor and has been widely quoted in a variety of national publications. Fred has an A.B. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

Jennifer Granick is the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Before EFF, Granick was a Lecturer in Law and Executive Director of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School where she taught Cyberlaw and Computer Crime Law. She practices in the full spectrum of Internet law issues including computer crime and security, national security, constitutional rights, and electronic surveillance, areas in which her expertise is recognized nationally. Before teaching at Stanford, Jennifer spent almost a decade practicing criminal defense law in California. She was selected by Information Security magazine in 2003 as one of 20 "Women of Vision" in the computer security field. She earned her law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her undergraduate degree from the New College of the University of South Florida. For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 17 Archive here: