Cory Doctorow is pushing Canada to treat jailbreaking as industrial policy, arguing that the country’s dependence on US-controlled phones, app stores, cloud accounts and connected machines creates a more immediate sovereignty risk than artificial intelligence.
Writing on Pluralistic after a Toronto panel on digital sovereignty, Doctorow said the discussion focused largely on whether Canada should build its own AI systems. He rejected that emphasis, saying the more practical threat is that US technology companies control key infrastructure used by Canadian households, companies and government offices.
Doctorow’s argument is blunt: if a foreign government can pressure Microsoft, Apple, Google or other US firms to cut off accounts, disable devices or block access to services, Canada has a dependency problem. He pointed specifically to Microsoft 365 accounts, iPhones, Android phones and internet-connected tractors as examples of systems where customers rely on vendor-controlled cloud services or software locks.
The legal problem, in Doctorow’s telling, is Canada’s Copyright Modernization Act of 2012. He said the law criminalizes circumvention of digital locks, which prevents Canadian businesses from offering tools that would let users install alternative app stores, modify tractor firmware for independent repair, or move cloud data reliably to competing Canadian services.
Doctorow said Canada adopted those anti-circumvention rules as part of a trade bargain with the United States. He argued that the bargain no longer makes sense because President Donald Trump has abandoned tariff promises while Canada still lets US companies use Canadian law against would-be competitors.
The essay was prompted by a comment Doctorow said he heard at the Toronto panel. After he argued for legalizing jailbreaking, the moderator characterized the idea as “rampant theft of IP,” according to Doctorow. He disputed that label, saying a device owner running lawful software, or a creator selling directly to a customer without a platform toll, should not be treated as piracy.
Doctorow tied the point to app store economics. He said Apple and Google take 30 percent of purchases made through apps by requiring app vendors to use their payment systems. In his example, a Canadian news subscription bought through an app sends a large share of lifetime revenue to one of two California companies.
He also cited Google and Meta’s share of the digital advertising market, saying their “Jedi Blue” arrangement captured 51 percent of each ad dollar. The arrangement has been the subject of antitrust allegations, though Doctorow described it as illegal and collusive.
Doctorow used Apple’s own history as a jab at today’s platform rules. He noted that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold “Blue Boxes,” devices used to make free long-distance calls by exploiting the phone network, before Apple existed. The legal term for that activity was toll theft, Doctorow wrote, while Apple now benefits from laws that restrict circumvention of its own systems.
His policy prescription is straightforward: Canada should legalize jailbreaking and build businesses around interoperability, repair, alternative app stores and cloud migration. Doctorow argued that such a move would both reduce exposure to US platform control and create a market for Canadian companies selling tools that help users leave locked-down ecosystems.
This story draws on original reporting from Pluralistic.
