iPhone SDK agreement prohibits jailbreaking

Apple is firing with both barrels this week, introducing surprising changes to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.

The agreement that all iPhone developers are required to adhere to now explicitly disallows jailbreaking, doing anything that assists with jailbreaking, or developing and distributing jailbreak applications--a big change from an agreement that previously restricted creation of applications that violated privacy or aided in violating criminal or intellectual property laws.

Ars Technica was able to obtain a copy of the new updated agreement that stated:

(e)You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise, create any Application or other program that would disable, hack or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so; and

(f) Applications developed using the Apple Software may only be distributed if selected by Apple (in its sole discretion) for distribution via the App Store or for limited distribution on Registered Devices (ad hoc distribution) as contemplated in this Agreement.

Developers will likely find this new rule frustrating because it effectively limits their options with rejected applications. If Apple rejects their software from the iTunes store, they will have no other distribution options. Consumers, in turn, get no choice in where they buy iPhone and iPod Touch software.

If developers are vocal enough in protest of the new rules, Apple may change its tune as the company did last fall when it relaxed the iPhone Developer Non-Disclosure Agreement, finally allowing authors to write books and articles about iPhone development, teachers to teach classes about iPhone development, and forums covering iPhone development to appear on the Internet.

You can read more about this story at MacNN and Ars Technica.