Bluwiki Apple continued

A recent move on Apple's part to quash discussion on the iTunesDB file – a database that governs playable media on an iPod – has been found to conflict with free speech rights. Slashdot reports that since the bluwiki site merely featured discussion on the subject of whether the iTunesDB file could be reverse engineered, after a recent hashing mechanism update foiled previous efforts for the new iPod touch and iPhone.

Since the iTunesDB file is created by the user's actions, Apple holds no rights over the content generated by the file, similar to how content is still owned by the end user when blogging through a web browser. Another hole in Apple's argument is that the file is not protected, since it is readable by any application.

Reverse engineering a solution is also a protected action, so long as the method does not breach any copyrighted material. The discussion and methods supplied by bluwiki classify under this measure, and should therefore be protected.

[via Electronic Frontier Foundation]

by MacNN Staff