WASHINGTON (July 26, 2010)--Owners of iPhones will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications not approved by Apple, under new rules the government announced Monday.

The decision to allow the practice commonly known as jailbreaking is one of a handful of new exemptions from a federal law that prohibits the circumvention of technical measures that control access to copyrighted works.

Every three years, the Library of Congress authorizes such exemptions to ensure that existing law does not prevent non-infringing use of copyrighted material.

Another exemption will allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.