Free software runs most of the smartphones in the world, but it's difficult to tell. Between network carriers who want to charge for everything they can and handset manufacturers who want differentiate their products as much as possible from their competitors', nobody is eager to give users control over their phones. In the U.S., the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prevents users from circumventing the access controls increasingly used to lock phones down. In this talk, a free software lawyer will discuss the legal and practical obstacles to free mobile operating systems and about SFLC's effort to get the Copyright Office to recognize a DMCA exception allowing users to install free software on mobile phones. (Spoiler alert: it didn't work.)
Speakers: Aaron Williamson