Monday July 26, 2010 the US government announced that owners of the iPhone can legally unlock (more commonly known as 'jailbreaking') their handsets and install unauthorized 3rd party apps. Until now, it has been a violation of Apple's Terms of Service. Though, many had believed it to be a legal grey area.

According to the AP, the following exemptions were also announced:

• allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.
• allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.
• allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.
• allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.
• allow blind people to break locks on electronic books so that they can use them with read-aloud software and similar aides.