Comments on: iPhone Meets World: Legally http://www.medianewsandviews.com/2010/07/loc_jailbreak/ Media Research News and Views from, for and about the Media Business Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:30:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: KevinKillion http://www.medianewsandviews.com/2010/07/loc_jailbreak/comment-page-1/#comment-86 KevinKillion Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:59:37 +0000 http://www.medianewsandviews.com/?p=863#comment-86 Larry Elkin seems to be in favor of a reduction in consumers' rights while arguing for consumers' rights. I certainly agree with the notion that if you own it, you own it. It's my choice if I want to jailbreak my purchased iPhone, or modify my car so that it runs on corn mash, or add a converter circuit to my TV set so that it receives messages from Andromeda. But it's a huge step backwards to suggest that this right also constrains manufacturers in what they can manufacture. If Chevy wants to produce Volts that use no gasoline, it would be crazy that they should be required to have gas tanks and engines for compatibility's sake. If Apple creates an iPhone that disallows Flash content (to ensure a better user experience), that's fine as well. If a razor manufacture comes up with a razor that requires its own line of super high tech blades, that's fine as well. In all of those cases, it should be the consumer's choice whether to buy or not (and if they do buy, then it's their choice whether to modify the product). Larry Elkin seems to be in favor of a reduction in consumers’ rights while arguing for consumers’ rights.

I certainly agree with the notion that if you own it, you own it. It’s my choice if I want to jailbreak my purchased iPhone, or modify my car so that it runs on corn mash, or add a converter circuit to my TV set so that it receives messages from Andromeda.

But it’s a huge step backwards to suggest that this right also constrains manufacturers in what they can manufacture. If Chevy wants to produce Volts that use no gasoline, it would be crazy that they should be required to have gas tanks and engines for compatibility’s sake. If Apple creates an iPhone that disallows Flash content (to ensure a better user experience), that’s fine as well. If a razor manufacture comes up with a razor that requires its own line of super high tech blades, that’s fine as well. In all of those cases, it should be the consumer’s choice whether to buy or not (and if they do buy, then it’s their choice whether to modify the product).

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