Recently jailbreaking has become a phenomenon among students.  Jailbreaking is an unauthorized firmware download from the internet onto Apple devices. Firmware is a software embedded in a piece of hardware downloaded from the internet, according to about.com.  This allows apps to be downloaded from Cydia, an app store.
    July 10, 2007 was the first jailbreak occurrence ever, according to jailbreak.com.  It allows  the use of custom unauthorized ringtones. Jailbreaking has evolved from allowing the use of simple ringtones to allowing one to download applications from the third party application Cydia, according to jailbreak.com. 
    Cydia has a large library of applications, from customizing wallpapers to downloading emulators.  An emulator is software that imitates another system.  For example, a Playstation emulator could be put on a computer or another device to simulate Playstation games.
    Apple has been in a constant battle against jailbreaking.  According to apple.com jailbreaking causes application instability, unreliable voice and data, disruption in services, compromised  security, shortened battery life, and inability to update software.  A programmer calling himself Ikee released a worm that targeted jailbroken iPods, according to computerweekly.com. A worm is a type of computer virus.
    Seventh grade student Andrew DeAnda does not think it is worth it to jailbreak Apple products. “Why wouldn’t you just stay with the original setup?” said Andrew.
    Popular apps from the Cydia store are Winterboard and Installous.  Winterboard allows visual settings to be changed; for example, if someone downloaded a theme from Cydia, he could put it in Winterboard to get a video wallpaper. 
    Recently, jailbreaking has been legalized for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  According to the federal regulators, there is,  “No basis for copyright law to assist Apple protecting its restrictive business.”  Dominic, an eighth grade student, said he would jailbreak his iPod because, “It’s awesome and you can get free stuff.”  Dominic has done a jailbreak before and seems to enjoy it. 
    The simplest means of jailbreaking IOS 4 (the firmware released by Apple) is jailbreakme.com.  On an Apple device one would use Safari to go to jailbreakme.com and slide the slider to jailbreak.  After several minutes, Cydia is downloaded on the springboard and the firmware is jailbroken.  Other means of jailbreaking include Quickpwn, Pwnagetool, Redsn0w, Blackra1n, Jailbreakme, Spirit, Yellowsn0w, Ultrasn0w, greenpois0n and B1acksn0w, according to jailbreak.com.
    The newest information on jailbreaking is for the iPod 4G. There are two types of jailbreaking firmware: tethered and untethered.  A tethered firmware requires one to plug in and restore an iPod every time a user turns it off.  An untethered firmware is exactly the opposite of a tethered firmware; it doesn’t require a restore after it is turned off.   
Most people jailbreak their devices because of the ability to get music and applications. Installing pirated applications is illegal but people still do it.
    According to free-pc-guides.com, recently the jailbreak development team has been able to jailbreak an Apple TV,  which is illegal.  It enables free rentals from the Apple store.  The firmware used to jailbreak Apple TV is called SHAtter.  The jailbreak development team realized the new model of the Apple TV was perfect to jailbreak because it has a large supply of memory to put the firmware on.
    Overall, jailbreaking has many issues but it also offers many possibilities.  Even though jailbroken devices can catch worms, they can also be customized more than Apple allows.