Sorry, I phrased that poorly. Actually you already can do whatever you want with it. As long as you’re not breaking other laws, you can do anything you want with your iPhone, including jailbreak it and install your own software.

What people are asking for isn’t the right to do whatever they want with their device—they already have that—they’re asking for the law to force Apple to design their OS in a certain way.

And again, maybe that law is the best idea and should be passed—there are certainly a lot of apparent advantages. But I’d ask people to be honest about what they’re asking for. It’s not granting the user any new freedoms; it’s taking away freedom from manufacturers.

It’s like copyright; most people (or at least a lot of people) consider it a good law that encourages more creative work and supports a healthy industry, but it too is a law that removes freedom rather than grants it.

You won't get the cops called on you for sideloading apps onto iPhones. You aren't "not allowed to".