What was once a grey area is now clear, as the US Copyright Office (part of the Library of Congress) has granted an exemption to the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) requested by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) regarding "Jailbreaking" mobile phones. Jailbreaking a mobile phone for the purpose of installing unapproved software is now a "fair use" and is not prohibited by the DMCA.
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/8621...f-jail-is-free
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100726/...ital_copyright
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/8621...f-jail-is-free
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100726/...ital_copyright