Petition to Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal

S

spacescreamer

n00b
Joined
May 16, 2012
Messages
9
As many would probably be aware, that there has recently been a ruling which prevents unlocking of phones, Practically making it illegal to unlock new phones to make them available on other carriers.

Seriously, It’s embarrassing and unacceptable that we are at the mercy of prosecutorial and judicial discretion to avoid the implementation of draconian laws that could implicate average Americans in a crime subject to up to a $500,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

When did we decide that we wanted a law that could make unlocking your smartphone a criminal offense? The answer is that we never really decided. Instead, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998 to outlaw technologies that bypass copyright protections. In practice it has terrible, and widely acknowledged, negative consequences that affect consumers and new innovation. The DMCA leaves it up to the Librarian of Congress (LOC) to issue exemptions from the law, exceptions that were recognized to be necessary given the broad language of the statute.

After Saturday it will be illegal to unlock a new smartphone, thereby allowing it to switch carriers. This is a result of the exception to the DMCA lapsing. It was not a mistake, but rather an intentional choice by the Librarian of Congress, that this was no longer fair use and acceptable.

Laws that can place people in jail should be passed by Congress, not by the decree of the Librarian of Congress. We have no way to hold the Librarian of Congress accountable for wildly unfair laws. There are still plenty of crazy laws passed by elected officials, but at least we can then vote them out of office.
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Source

The petition to whitehouse is underway and i think this really should gather the required votes.
Pls sign up and promote it as much as possible..

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal/1g9KhZG7


Would request the mod to make this a sticky. :)
 
stupidity at it's finest........

You can already get your cell phone unlocked from the carrier (most times for free if the devices is in good standing with said carrier). If you are a customer of said carrier and your account is in good standing, device ulock will be granted when you call customer service and provide them with the IEMI. CDMA phone are a whole different animal entirely...
 
Not true for all the cases.

1) The phone should be considerably old.. 3/6 months minimum, not sure of the time period.
2) Exclusive phone for a carrier will not be unlocked, proven fact by many consumers.

The ruling hasnt been passed just for kicks. Things will change drastically if this becomes a law.
 
We should start a petition for stupid people not to deal with asshole restrictive shit carriers like verizon.
 
spacescreamer said:
Not true for all the cases.

1) The phone should be considerably old.. 3/6 months minimum, not sure of the time period.
2) Exclusive phone for a carrier will not be unlocked, proven fact by many consumers.

The ruling hasnt been passed just for kicks. Things will change drastically if this becomes a law.
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lol walnut?

I have an unlocked Nokia Lumia 810 and that is exclusive to t-mobile. The DAY I got the phone from them I was able to get the unlock code. I am a 7 year customer in good standing and I have NEVER had a problem getting them to unlock a phone.

Razr
BB Pearl
HD2
HD7
Lumia 810 all unlocked and available to use anywhere there is standard GSM service. I also have an unlocked Nokia 900 that is AT&T branded...that I got unlocked with no hassle...
 
Petitions to the white house. Useless in reality, but gives people the impression their opinion matters.
 
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