Apple backs down over iPhone forum censorship

Apple has dropped its legal action against the operators of the BluWiki discussion and information site in response to action by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Apple took the action to ban forum discussions about how iPhone and iPod Touch users could hack their devices so that they didn’t have to use iTunes music software. The company said information was illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibition on circumventing copy protection measures

However, after the EFF filed suit against the company Apple has now withdrawn its legal case, stating that: “Apple no longer has, nor will it have in the future, any objection to the publication of the iTunesDB Pages."

The case is particularly relevant for Palm Pre owners, who had been able to sync their devices with iTunes but are now blocked from doing so after an Apple software update.

"While we are glad that Apple retracted its baseless legal threats, we are disappointed that it only came after 7 months of censorship and a lawsuit," said EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann.

"Because Apple continues to use technical measures to lock iPod Touch and iPhone owners into -- and Palm Pre owners out of -- using Apple's iTunes software, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more discussions among frustrated customers about reverse engineering Apple products. We hope Apple has learned its lesson here and will give those online discussions a wide berth in the future."