jailbreak

(CNN) -- Fresh from a victory that saw a pair of online-piracy bills shelved,

Web-freedom advocates are now fighting to preserve their right to jailbreak their

iPhones.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation, a key player in the fight against the

Stop Online Piracy Act, is urging people to ask the U.S. government to declare

that hacking their own smartphone, tablet or other device is not a crime.

"Smartphones, tablets, and video game consoles are powerful computers

with lots of untapped potential," the group says on its website. "Yet many

of these devices are set up to run only software that's been approved by

the manufacturer.

"Modifying a device to run independent software -- known as j

ailbreaking -- is important to programmers, enthusiasts, and users."

"Jailbreaking" a phone gives users the ability to download unauthorized apps

from any source. It's particularly popular on iPhones because of Apple's

famously closed environment, which only allows apps bought from its own

stores to be used on the phones.

Jailbreaking also allows an owner to unlock their phone and switch

mobile carriers. Apple's phones, and its iPads, typically come with an

exclusive contract with a mobile provider (originally only AT&T in the

United States, although Verizon and Sprint versions have been added).

In July 2010, the U.S. Copyright Office issued a ruling that exempted

jailbreaking from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) -- the same

law used last week to shut down file-sharing site MegaUpload.

Under DCMA, Apple had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for

"circumvention of technological measures." That could be interpreted to

extend to jailbreaking, since the iPhone's iOS software is copyrighted.

Apple had never actually fined one of its customers, but maintained its

right to do so and filed an objection to the copyright office's ruling while

it was in the planning stages.

The EFF is asking the copyright office to extend the 2010 exemption,

which will otherwise expire this year, and add tablets like the iPad to it.

They're also asking for a specific exemption for video-game consoles.

The group is specifically asking "people who depend on the ability to

jailbreak to write, use, and/or tinker with independent software

(from useful apps to essential security fixes)" to contact the office.

The Software Freedom Law Center, another group working on t

he issue, is asking that exemptions be extended to all personal c

omputing devices.

"People must have the right to control the software running on devices

they own," said Aaron Williamson, a lawyer with the group. "That right

is essential to the continued development of free and open source software

and is foundational to our privacy, security, and freedom, online and off."

Apple did not respond to a request for a comment for this story.

In the past, the company has said that jailbreaking, which voids

n iPhone's warranty, can introduce bugs and other problems.

"Apple's goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great

experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely

degrade the experience," a company spokeswoman said in response to the

Copyright Office ruling in 2010. "The vast majority of customers do not

jailbreak their iPhones."