Sort of. While I’m no slicky-dicky attorney (I know, our lawyers are going to be plenty PO’d when they read that), it seems The Library Of Congress is totally okay with doing it.

Sooo okay, they called it “a fair use” of the product. So it’s all good.

At least if don’t mind voiding your warranty and have Apple pretty much leave you on your own. Which, not surprisingly, most folks who jailbreak their iPod Touch/iPhones, don’t really care about anyways.

Dunno about jailbreaking? Here’s the short of it. You basically crack Apple’s grip on your iPhone/iPod Touch so you can download apps, grab music, and use your iPhone/iPod Touch anyway you want to.

I promise, the “lock” references will stop soon. But you essentially open up your device to anything out there when you use a modified version of the iPhone OS. Jailbreaking your device is actually pretty simple. Just Google it and you’ll get a ton of step-by-step how-to’s.

For iPhone’s this allows you to go onto any other carrier in the world (as long as they’re GSM, i.e. T-Mobile) and use your phone with a cheaper data plan.

THe thing to keep in mind is that does open your device to a whole lot of potential security issues. To some the risk is well worth the rewards of ripped apps and all things free. For most users though, it’s too much trouble for too little gain.

It’s good to know The Library of Congress is on your side though.

Check out the full details over at PCMag.com and Apple’s response.

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