We're still weeks away from Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 10-14, but one thing's for sure: Plenty of iPhone and iPad users are hoping for a fresh design and a more open, customizable experience. 

Last week, ReadWrite asked our esteemed readers what you're hoping to see in iOS 7. The two biggest take-aways:

1. ReadWrite readers want iOS to be more customizable.
2. ReadWrite readers would really like Android-style widgets on their iPhone and iPads.

(Before we go any further, though, let's be totally clear: These results are not statistically representative of iOS users generally, but they do illuminate what many ReadWrite readers would like to see in iOS7.)

Make iOS More Customizable

When asked if iOS should open up and become more customizable, almost two thirds (64%) of respondents said Yes. Just 28% - less than a third - thought Apple should retain its strict, top-down control because this is how the company ensures a bulletproof user experience. 

That justification might be historically true, but it's becoming harder for Apple to ignore just how effectively Google is managing to catch up in terms of Android's UX design, while not sacrificing the flexibility Android has traditionally granted its users. For years, Apple fans could laugh off Android as a rusty, imperfect copycat with a lot of growing to do. And they were mostly right.

But grown it has, and now Android is a more potent competitor to iOS than ever. With its chief competitor offering a far more customizable experience, Apple faces growing pressure to loosen its grip on iOS and give more control to its users. There's no guarantee that Apple will do that (and even if it does, the changes will no doubt be gradual), but the user demand seems clear. 

No Wonder Jailbreaking iOS Is So Popular 

This desire for greater control is exhibited in the growing popularity of jailbreaking - the unauthorized removal of Apple's limits on how people can use iOS. Even though there is no jailbreak available for the latest version of iOS, there are at least 30 million jailbroken iOS devices, according to Cydia creator Jay Freeman's website (Cydia is the "alternative to Apple's app store for 'jailbroken devices' "). Granted, that's a small percentage of the more than 500 million iOS devices Apple has sold to date, but the demand appears to be growing. When the evasi0n jailbreak tool for iOS 6 launched earlier this year, it was so popular that not only did people trying to access crash the site hosting it, but they crashed the Cydia app store and caused performance issues that lasted for days. With 7 million devices cracked in four days, evasi0n was the most popular iOS jailbreaking tool yet. 

Typically, when we write about the jailbreaking phenomenon here on ReadWrite, the chorus from Android-loving commenters is consistent: Google's mobile OS has been able to do XYZ for years, you doofus. Get a clue. Switch to Android. Snark aside, these folks have a point. Many of reasons people jailbreak their iPhones and iPads are indeed features that come natively on Android, or are at least a Google Play app download away.  

In our survey, ReadWrite asked readers to list the features they'd most like to see in iOS 7. The second most-used word in the responses was "customization." Other popular requests included improvements to iOS's multitasking, quicker access to settings, multiple user profiles and improvements to the Notification Center. 

Give Us Widgets Or Give Us Death!

Overall, the most commonly requested feature was the inclusion of widgets on the home screen. The use of icons displaying live data has long been familiar to users of other operating systems and has even found its way into at least one iOS 7 preview mockup. Apparently, lots of iOS users are sick of looking at the Weather app icon and seeing the same sun that's been shining since the iPhone first launched in 2007. 

In total, 734 people responded to our survey. Are these just a bunch of Android fans flooding our Poll Daddy widget with pro-Google sentiment? Hardly. Not only did we give Android die-hards a chance to reveal themselves in the first question, but 61% of responses were made from iOS devices. Another 13% came from Mac computers. 

Anything else you're dying to see in iOS 7 when it's announced next month? Let us know in the comments. 

Related Reading: 

• Why Jailbreaking iOS 6 Is Popular Enough To Break Cydia
• Why Apple Really Needs To Kill It With iOS 7
• Apple's iOS Design Changes Threaten To Delay The Next iPhone
• Will Apple's New Design Changes Kill The Luster Steve Jobs Loved? 

Earlier this year, the Library of Congress allowed an exemption to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to expire, effectively making it illegal to unlock cellphones purchased after Jan. 26. A group of citizens outraged at the unlocking ban started a petition on the White House’s “We The People” website to fight the new law, garnering more than 114,000 signatures in 30 days.

Today, the White House responded. The verdict? The administration is firmly in support of ending the unlocking ban. Unfortunately, it can't do very much about it on its own.

David Edelmen, senior advisor for the Internet, innovation and privacy at the White House, wrote:

The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones. And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network. It's common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers' needs.

Which is great. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has to kick the can to Congress to really fix things. For instance, Edelman wrote, the White House would support a variety of legislative fixes:

The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation.

The odds of that at the moment? Probably not great.

In the short term, the best chance for quick action might lie with the Library of Congress itself. The LoC also released a statement today that, depending on how you squint at it, either seemed to open the door to reconsideration of the unlocking issue or to simply hedge its bets. Key sentence:

We also agree with the administration that the question of locked cell phones has implications for telecommunications policy and that it would benefit from review and resolution in that context.

The White House said that any users that own their cellphones and are not hindered by service contracts should be able to do what they please with their devices.

This is particularly important for secondhand or other mobile devices that you might buy or receive as a gift, and want to activate on the wireless network that meets your needs -- even if it isn't the one on which the device was first activated. All consumers deserve that flexibility.

The petition was started by Sina Khanifar, an entrepreneur that once owned a website called Cell-Unlock.com. Here is Khanifar's response to the White House's response:

A little earlier I received a call from David Edelman at the White House, and he gave me the news. I'm really glad to see the White House taking action on an issue that's clearly very important to people. As the White House said in the response, keeping unlocking legal is really "common sense," and I'm excited to see them recognizing this. David was enthusiastic about getting this fixed as quickly as possible.

This is a big victory for consumers, and I'm glad to have played a part in it. A lot of people reacted skeptically when I originally started the petition, with lots of comments to the effect of "petitions don't do anything."  The optimist in me is really glad to have proved them wrong. The White House just showed that they really do listen, and that they're willing to take action.

While I think this is wonderful, I think the real culprit here is Section 1201 of the DMCA, the controversial "anti-circumvention provision." I discussed with the White House the potential of pushing to have that provision amended or removed, and they want to continue that conversation. I'll have exciting news on the campaign to make this happen tomorrow.

Tinkerers, open source ideologues, mobile developers and enthusiasts and even plain old mobile consumers who want a bit of choice, you got some bad news earlier this year: It is now illegal to unlock your smartphone. 

Through a decree from the Library Of Congress through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as of Jan. 26, 2013, the exception explicitly allowing consumers to unlock any new smartphones they purchase has been ended.

Unlocking smartphones is a way for consumers to change the SIM cards in their devices so they can use it on a different carrier. For instance, if you unlocked your Samsung Galaxy S 3 you could then change carriers from AT&T to T-Mobile by replacing the SIM card.

What Is The Unlocking Petition All About?

A petition has been presented to the White House on its “We the People” website, which allows U.S. residents to entreat the U.S. government to address particular concerns. The White House is committed to respond to any petition that gets 100,000 signatures.

Here is the text of the petition:

The Librarian of Congress decided in October 2012 that unlocking of cell phones would be removed from the exceptions to the DMCA.

As of January 26, consumers will no longer be able unlock their phones for use on a different network without carrier permission, even after their contract has expired.

Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full.

The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked.

We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.

The petition is now nearly a month old, having been started on Jan. 24 this year. It has until Feb. 23 to garner 100,000 signatures. As of the afternoon of Feb. 20, the petition was still about 12,000 votes short of obliging the White House to respond. 

Why Is Unlocking Important?

Consumers can face financial hurdles and loss of choice if the unlocking ban remains in effect. The most obvious problem is for overseas travelers who want to unlock their phones so they can use a local SIM card and avoid the exorbitant voice and data charges that domestic carriers like AT&T charge for foreign use. Consumers may also want to unlock their phones to switch carriers or if they want to sell their phones to independent third parties. 

The carriers and manufacturers, meanwhile, stand to benefit from the unlocking ban. If consumers are forced into contracts when they buy their phones, they cannot easily switch carriers without hefty early termination fees. Manufacturers benefit because if somebody wants to join a new carrier, they have to buy a new phone. Wireless trade groups like the CTIA look out for the interests of manufacturers and carriers (especially the carriers) and have endorsed the unlocking ban.

Who's Behind The Unlocking Petition?

One of the petition’s organizers is Sina Khanifar. He started a website while at college in 2004 called Cell-Unlock.com that sold software that unlocked consumers’ cellphones. Shortly thereafter he was hit by a cease-and-desist letter from Motorola alleging that he was circumventing DMCA rules that prohibit unlocking phone.. With the help of the founder of Stanford's Cyberlaw Clinic, Jennifer Granick, an exemption was created in the DMCA that specifically allowed consumers to unlock their phones. That exemption expired on Jan. 26.

Khanifar does have some incentive to make cellphone unlocking legal. The Cell-Unlock website is still active and is being run by his brother, Sohail. 

The other organizer of the petition is Derek Khanna, a former staff member of the Republican Study Committee who was infamously terminated from the group after releasing a memo on copyright and intellectual property legislation that was not well received by the Grand Old Party. Before his termination, Khanna was regarded as a tech-savvy young member of the Republican party. He is now a visiting law fellow at Yale University.

Want to end the unlocking ban? Sign the petition by Friday to ensure the White House responds. 

Now that you have the option to jailbreak your iPhone 5, iPad Mini or other iOS 6 device, you might be wondering if you should. For many, it's a no brainer. For more casual users or folks who only recently jumped on the iOS bandwagon, there are some important questions.

Is jailbreaking legal? That depends. The latest DMCA rules do not provide an exemption for jailbreaking and rooting tablets, which means jailbreaking your iPad is technically illegal. Jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod Touch is fine, though, which makes absolutely no sense. 

Is jailbreaking hard? No, not really. The process will likely take you less than an hour, as long as you're cautious and back everything up. We have step-by-step instructions outlining how to jailbreak iOS 6 running on your iPhone, iPod Touch or, if you dare, iPad. 

Why should I bother jailbreaking? Now, there's the really important question. For an answer, here are 12 of the most compelling reasons to break free of Apple's control. 

1. Rename And Reorganize Apps

It may seem mundane, but having the ability to rename your apps is kind of nice. Maybe you want to call Sparrow "Email" or change "Spotify" to "Music." It's so basic, it seems like something iOS should just let you do by default. But it doesn't. You have to jailbreak to get that ability. 

Jailbreaking also gives you more freedom over the organization of your apps. You can add an additional row of apps, adjust icon sizes and even add a more icons to the home screen's dock, which is handier than it sounds. A tool called FolderEnhancer lets you create subfolders, put folders on the dock and customize the way folders generally look and work. Want to get rid of Newsstand? There's a Cydia tweak for that. 

2. Make Chrome (Or Anything Else) Your Default Browser

The fact that Apple won't let you change your default browser is positively Orwellian. BrowserChanger fixes that by letting you choose from several dozen different mobile browsers, including Chrome, Dolphin, Skyfire, Opera Mini and Atomic. 

3. Change Your Default Email App 

Apple's native Mail app is pretty dull and its feature set evolves only gradually. The Sparrow+ tweak will let you boot Mail from your life by making Sparrow the phone's default email app, which is so much better.

4. Tether Your Data Connection To Your Laptop 

This is now something you can legally do through your carrier, but jailbroken phones can tether their data connections to other devices at no extra charge (aside from the cost of the app). MyWi and TetherMe are both popular options in Cydia. 

5. Customize the Look And Feel Of iOS

Apple does a pretty nice job of polishing the way its mobile OS looks, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have the option to change its appearance. Jailbreaking lets you do things like change the logo that appears when the device boots (vintage rainbow Apple logo anyone?), change the lock screen design or overhaul the entire theme. If you ever wanted iOS to look like Android, now's your chance.  

There are some really well-designed custom themes available, but also plenty of gross-looking ones. Cydia is loaded with themes and discovering the best ones isn't easy, so you may want to search the Web for theme options first. 

6. Make The Most Of Siri 

When Apple launched Siri in 2011, it gave jailbreak devs a whole new playground in which to experiment. Using the Siri tweaks available in Cydia, you can install chatbots, have Siri tell you jokes, ask it to search YouTube and integrate it with third party apps like Spotify and Waze. In my testing, some tweaks caused Siri to freeze, so proceed with caution. 

7. Play Classic Video Games

Since day one, running video game emulators has been popular among the jailbreaking set. On Cydia, you can find emulators for a number of classic video game consoles. These apps don't come with games (called ROMs), so you'll have to do some searching online or grab the EmuROMs app from Cydia. Note: It's not always legal to download ROMs of video games, so proceed at your own risk. 

8. Beef Up Security 

Jailbroken iDevices have more options in terms of privacy and security, although it's worth noting that not all of them are necessarily reliable. 

The Security section of Cydia offers tools that let you lock down media files and individual apps, install key loggers, encrypt messages, remotely track and wipe your iPhone and make it harder to access the device. There are also tweaks that let you use facial recognition to unlock the device or email a photo of whoever keeps trying to guess your passcode. 

9. Get A Taste Of GoogleNow 

Okay, so it's not exactly GoogleNow, but the functionality provided by the NowNow tweak brings iOS users a step closer to using Google's predictive, voice-enabled mobile assistant. NowNow works with the jailbreak-only Activator app Google's own iOS search app to integrate Google voice search right into the device's home button. This way, you can hold down the button to ask Siri question and then triple-press it to get a second opinion from Google voice search. 

10. Rid Your Life Of Apple Maps Forever

MapsOpener is a jailbreak tweak that lets you open map URLs in Google Maps rather than default to Apple's famously imperfect replacement app. Some third party apps may still default to Apple Maps, but this tweak will minimize the likelihood of you ever seeing those smushed-up skyscrapers again. 

11. Multiple Users 

One commonly pined-for iOS feature is the ability to have multiple users on a single device. This is especially true of iPads, which are often shared among family members. Thanks to a tool called iUsers, it's now possible for different people to log in and out of the device without ever seeing each other's weird little secrets.

12. Catch a Glimpse Of The Platform's Future

Even though there's plenty of junk in Cydia, the jailbreak app store has become home to some very useful, impressive and well-designed apps, tweaks and themes. In some cases, Apple has not only hired jailbreak developers but stolen ideas directly from the jailbreak community. Before Notification Center arrived in iOS 5, for example, it was something jailbreakers had been been using for quite some time. Things as basic as multitasking and copy/paste were also available via Cydia before Apple implemented them. 

By jailbreaking, you can get a glimpse at the future of iOS itself, even if it's often in an unpolished and experimental form. 

There are many, many more reasons to jailbreak than this. Cydia has thousands of tools and tweaks available and developers are always hard at work coding the next experimental feature. Some are better than others. Some are downright awful. A few might screw up your device. But the freedom afforded to you by jailbreaking iOS can be hugely rewarding, not to mention addictive. 

Jailbreaking is suddenly all the rage - again. Despite Apple's best efforts to improve its iOS mobile operating systemand discourage users from hacking its mobile devices, yesterday's launch of the the evasi0n jailbreak tool for iOS 6 is a massive hit. Since yesterday, the Cydia store for jailbreak apps has been installed more than 1.7 million times. 

Demand for evasi0n was so high, in fact, that the Cydia app store has been experiencing performance and availability issues for the last 24 hours. Cydia creator Jay Freeman (known online as @saurik) confirmed the issues on Twitter and via the app store's home screen. Freeman and other developers have been busily rewriting code and fixing bugs. 

"Traffic from evasi0n has caused many errors," Freeman wrote early this morning. "After 19 hours of work… things seem stable."

(See also: How To Jailbreak iOS 6 On Your iPhone, iPad Or iPod Touch)

New jailbreaks are always highly anticipated and it's now pretty much expected that the launch of a new one will cause the site hosting it to slow down or crash. But it's not every time that the release of a new jailbreak causes Cydia itself to grind to a halt. 

As of this afternoon, many Cydia twaks and extensions were still returning error messages instead of downloading. Most of them appear to have been fixed, although some users on Twitter are still reporting issues. 

If Apple was hoping to see jailbreaking's popularity decline, the launch of evasi0n should be sobering news. 

Even though jailbreaking phones and other non-tablet mobile devices is perfectly legal, Apple discourages the practice both with public warnings about the risks and with substantial upgrades to iOS that often steal ideas from the jailbreak community. The Notification Center that arrived in iOS 5, for example, looked very familiar to people who had jailbroken their devices. iOS 6 didn't have quite so many features lifted from the jailbreaking community, but it was still a fairly substantial upgrade with plenty of improvements. 

Why Is Jailbreaking So Popular? 

Of course, the launch of iOS 6 wasn't without its problems. Most notably, the arrival of Apple Maps was an epic debacle big enough to dislodge key executives at the Cupertino giant. It wasn't until Google released its new Maps app for iOS in December that iPhone 5 owners were able to get relief from the disfigured terrain and imperfect data wrought by Apple's first stab at mobile mapmaking. As of Monday, those users have the option to make Google Maps for iOS their default mapping application, if they choose to jailbreak. 

I'm speculating here, but it's easy to see why many iOS 6 users were particularly anxious to free themselves from Apple's control, especially after an imperfection as glaring as Maps bruised their confidence in the company's ecosystem. Another possible lure would be the ability to make Google's Chrome the iPhone's default browser.

That, and jailbreaking's popularity was already on the rise. In a highly detailed history of jailbreaking, Techcrunch's Sarah Perez revealed that Cydia has been downloaded 22.8 million times to date. That number is probably closer to 25 million by now, after the launch of evasi0n. 

Taking Back Control From Apple 

Jailbreaking is all about control. It shifts the balance from Apple to the consumer, allowing users to customize their devices, change the way the OS looks and install tweaks and add-ons to enhance the experience. 

It makes sense that millions of people would want to regain this type of control over their mobile computing experience. After all, we are positively glued to these devices. They play an integral role in our day-to-day lives and as a result, we feel personally attached to them. 

With personal computers, people who wanted it were conditioned to expect control over things like the names under our app icons, our default Web browser and the color scheme of our desktop. The post-PC mobile era has given us many new advantages and added a sleek layer of polish, but has taken away much of that control. Some of us want it back. 

In a lot of ways, Apple's strict control is a good thing. It's the reason the user experience feels so flawless and intuitive. It's why I can hand an iPad to my 70-year-old mother or my 3-year-old-niece and not have to explain anything to them. It's the reason that in the post-PC era, the tech savvy are doing far less tech support for family members. 

But there's a limit to how effective this top-down control can be. It's great that iOS works the way it does out of the box, but annoying that power users can't dig into the settings and start tinkering with things in ways that we've been able to do for decades on PCs. It's infuriating that I can't change my default browser to Chrome without circumventing Apple. It bugs me that I'm forced to use Apple's boring Mail app over something like Gmail or Sparrow, unless I hit the "Jailbreak" button. 

Most of the things you can do with a jailbroken iDevice feel like things we should be able to do anyway. Many of them, as Android devotees are quick to point out, are things you can do on Google's mobile OS without having to do any tinkering.

That's true, but there are more than 500 million iOS devices in the world - and without an officially sanctioned way to customize things, the tinkerers among us will continue to turn to tools like evasi0n. Sometimes, if there's enough of us, we'll even crash servers to get them. 

Lead photo by David Locke. 

At last, the untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 is here. That not only means that the iPhone 5, iPad Mini and fourth generation 10-inch iPad can be freed from Apple's restrictions, but that it's safe for hardcore jail breakers to upgrade older devices to iOS 6 as well. Starting Monday, iOS users can do a lot more with their devices.  

Jailbreaking isn't a difficult or highly technical process, but it does demand some caution. The evasi0n jailbreak tool comes with simple step-by-step instructions in its readme.txt file, but we thought a more thorough walk-through would be worthwhile, lest you accidentally delete your cherished, digitally-captured memories.  

(See Also: Why iOS 6 Jailbreaking Is Popular Enough To Break Cydia)

Note: The screenshots used in this tutorial were made on Mac OS X. For Windows and Linux, use the analogous options within iTunes.

1. Getting Ready: Download Evasi0n And Back Up Your Device

The first thing you'll need to do is download Evasi0n onto your computer. There are versions available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Once it's downloaded, unpack it, install it and open it.

Before you do anything with Evasi0n, plug your iOS device into the computer via USB, and open iTunes so you can back it up.  When the device appears within iTunes, right-click it and choose "Back Up."  In iTunes, you have the option to back up to your local hard drive or iCloud. For the sake of speed, backing things up locally is probably the better option. Make sure the "Encrypt backup" checkbox is unchecked. 

If you've download apps directly to your device, you'll want to transfer those purchases to iTunes first. Go to File -> Devices -> Transfer Purchases from [whatever your device is called]. 

This way, when you restore the device, you won't lose anything. If any apps go missing, you can always restore them on the device later by going to the "Purchased" tab under "Updates" in the iTunes store. 

2. Back Up Your Photos And Videos

Backing up your device in iTunes does not include your photos and videos. Before proceeding with the jailbreak, import everything using iPhoto, Adobe Bridge or any other photo management software. If you don't back up the photos and videos on your device, you will lose them forever - and be sad.

3. Upgrade to iOS 6.1 (If You Haven't Already)  

If you haven't upgraded to iOS 6.1 yet, this is when you'll want to do so. Once everything is backed up, go to the device's "Summary" tab in iTunes and click the "Update" button under the iOS version number. 

Finally, if you use a passcode to lock your device, go into iOS's Settings and turn it off. It can apparently screw with the jailbreaking process. 

4. Launch Evasi0n And Jailbreak Your Device

 Once everything is backed up and updated, launch evasi0n. Take a deep breath. Click "Jailbreak." 

At this point, you might want to do some leisurely reading or get back to work, because the jailbreak itself may take 15-30 minutes to complete.  

After several minutes, evasi0n will ask you to go to wake up your iPad and tap the "Jailbreak" icon now installed on your home screen (alongside your existing apps). Do that. 

From there, evasi0n will inject the last of the jailbreak files onto your device and it will reboot itself. Unlike the older Absinthe A5 jailbreak, evasi0n will automatically restore your device from its backup, saving you the extra manual step. 

5. Getting Started With Cydia

Cydia is the jailbreak equivalent of Apple's App Store. At first glance, Cydia app store is not quite as polished as Apple's, but it doesn't take long to find your way around. 

You'll want to start by browsing through the "Featured" list and looking at the themes that are available. Cydia does a pretty good job of breaking things down into useful categories, and even provides a list of tools to start out with. 

There are a lot of apps, tweaks and design themes available in Cydia. It's worth taking the time to scroll through each list, check out the descriptions and screen shots, and start installing things you think would be useful for you. When I first jailbroke my iPhone 4, I started small by adding a fifth icon to the dock, enabling app-renaming, making Sparrow my default email client and adding a new theme. There are plenty of Siri-related tweaks, which you can find by searching "Siri" within Cydia. 

Other popular enhancements include additions to Notification Center, Wi-Fi tethering, game emulators and a variety of lock-screen modifications. Most tweaks and apps are free, but a handful of them cost a few bucks. The tethering and hotspot apps tend to run $10-$20, but price tags that large are otherwise pretty rare in Cydia.

Nearly five months after Apple shipped iOS 6, an untethered jailbreak for the operating system is now available. Unlike its predecessor, the Evasi0n iOS 6 jailbreak tool works on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux at launch. 

The release of Evasi0n has been highly anticipated for owners of the iPhone 5 and fourth generation iPad, both of which shipped running iOS 6 by default. For others, the release means they can finally upgrade their devices to iOS 6 without losing the ability to download unauthorized apps and customize the look and feel of their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. 

High Jailbreak Demand

As is now standard for iOS jailbreaks, the launch of Evasi0n came with its fair share of technical difficulties. Demand is so high for jailbreaks that they tens to crash servers and cause performance issues on the hosting site - at least at first. In this case, the evaders team that developed it decided to use Google Sites, which apparently has a page view limit. After several failed attempts, I finally managed to get the .dmg file  to download. 

Although it probably felt like an eternity for iPhone 5 users, the release of the iOS 6 jailbreak arrived at roughly the same time as the Absinthe A5 jailbreak tool for iOS 5 last year. In December 2011, Pod2G released a jailbreak for iOS 5, but that didn't include the devices with A5 chips like the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. That tool arrived on January 20 of last year. So the new jailbreaking team was only slightly behind schedule with this one. 

The Evasi0n jailbreak was actually well underway as of last week, but the team didn't want to push it out prior to Apple's release of iOS 6.1, lest the company patch the exploits the team used to jailbreak. 

Why Jailbreak?

Jailbreaking isn't for everybody. While the process is relatively user friendly (so long as the directions are followed with caution and the device is backed up first), the experience is best suited for that subset of users who prefer to have the ability to customize their devices and download apps that wouldn't meet Apple's requirements for inclusion in the App Store. 

This includes things like like tethering your data connection to other devices and running classic video game emulators. For me, it's the little things. I like using Chrome as my default browser, renaming apps, customizing the design of my home screen and using Sparrow as my default mail client.  

To download the iOS 6 jailbreak, head over to evasi0n.com and select your operating system of choice. Depending on how overloaded the server is at the moment, be prepared to hit "refresh" more than a few times. 

Want to play old school Nintendo games on your iPad? Download Google Play apps from foreign countries to your Galaxy Tab? If so, you'll have to break the law. That's because under new rules issued by the U.S. government, jailbreaking (or in the case of Android, rooting) tablets becomes a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act on Sunday, October 28. 

On Thursday, the Librarian of Congress issued its latest set of exemptions to the DMCA. By default, digital rights management (DRM) mechanisms cannot legally be flouted by consumers, but the DMCA allows the government to periodically define exemptions to this rule. 

In 2010, tinker-happy iPhone owners breathed a sigh of relief (and Steve Jobs likely just sighed) when it was ruled that jailbreaking smartphones was perfectly legal under the DMCA. This remains the case, but the updated list of exemptions explicitly excludes tablets, a category of devices that the government found to be too "broad and ill-defined" to allow their owners free reign when using them. So as of now, it is illegal to jailbreak an iPad or root a tablet running Android or any tablet-focused flavor of Windows. 

This Makes No Sense

The tablet exemption is a bit of a head scratcher. I'm free to jailbreak my iPhone and do as I please with it, but if I want to run the same jailbreak tool on a larger device running the same exact operating system, it's against the law?

Accessing Cydia on my iPhone 4 is cool, but doing it on a screen a few inches bigger? That's illegal. Other than its size, the only significant difference between these two devices is that the iPhone makes and receives calls. 

The new rules also forbid personal copying of DVDs. And starting in January 2013, it will be illegal to unlock new smartphones for the purpose of switching carriers. Unlocking older handsets will continue to be fine. The whole thing illustrates what Ars Technica's Timothy B. Lee calls "the fundamentally arbitrary nature of the DMCA's exemption process."

Explains Lee: 

In order to convince the Librarian to allow DVD ripping in order to watch it on an iPad, a court would first need to rule that doing so falls under copyright's fair use defense. To get such a ruling, someone would have to rip a DVD (or sell a DVD-ripping tool), get sued in court, and then convince a judge that DVD ripping is fair use. But in such a case, the courts would probably never reach the fair use question, because - absent an exemption from the Librarian of Congress- circumvention is illegal whether or not the underlying use of the work would be a fair use.

Lee goes on to make the case that new rules surrounding DVD copying and eBook DRM don't make sense either and suggests that perhaps DRM schemes should not be legally protected from tampering by default. His take is well worth a read. 

How Will This Impact iOS Jailbreaking? 

When the news broke, iOS jailbreak developer MuscleNerd expressed concern about it on Twitter. When I asked him for his perspective, he declined to comment because of potential legal repercussions. 

Unlocking is no longer an explicit DMCA exemption :( Neither is jailbreaking iPads (important: no exemption != illegal) is.gd/vkAVQK

— MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) October 25, 2012

Suffice it to say that developers like him are less than thrilled about the new rules. It may cause them to be more be cautious about building new jailbreak tools for iOS. Tools like Absinthe and Redsn0w will continue to be able jailbreak iPhones, but may include some fine print about using them to to crack open iPads, if that functionality is available at all. 

Developers have not yet created an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6, but one is understood to be in the works. We'll see if these new rules have any impact on what the jailbreak community comes up with.