Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday

[wlo8]

Hmm... http://www.technewsdaily.com/16514-u...s-illegal.html

If you do buy a new phone and want to unlock it before the deadline, you must first ask your carrier if the company will unlock your phone for you. The DMCA only permits you to unlock your phone yourself once you've asked your carrier first.

[hwertz]

Hmm... http://www.technewsdaily.com/16514-u...s-illegal.html

If you do buy a new phone and want to unlock it before the deadline, you must first ask your carrier if the company will unlock your phone for you. The DMCA only permits you to unlock your phone yourself once you've asked your carrier first.

The DMCA can <expletive deleted>.

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[AutoUnion]

<expletive deleted> is this?

[kneedragger32]

<expletive deleted> is this?

😂Lol 10 char

[Jordan T]

If you're opposed to this, here's a couple petitions you can sign on the White House website, the first one specifically unlocking related and the second one addressing the CAUSE of the problem - the broken DMCA and the clueless Librarian of Congress:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...legal/1g9KhZG7

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...t-act/phXh0RSQ

[Morphling27]

I think the real issue is the fact your phones don't come unlocked anyway. Its your phone, you purchased it. Even counting in the signing a contract for a subsidy, you own the phone. There isn't a lein against your phone nor does the contract specifically reference your phone. So, they sell you something, yet they lock it down.

All while using airwaves that are a public resource.

[veriztd]

All while using airwaves that are a public resource.

The airwaves aren't truly "public". You can't setup a radio station and legally broadcast without buying a license to broadcast from the FCC. The cellular carriers pay the FCC millions of dollars annually. It's more like a leased resource.

A true public resource wouldn't have an annual fee. You can't even fish in most states legally without a license.

[the_hustleman]

This law is a load of bull.
I'll just get someone overseas to unlock it

sent from the best smart phone (not phablet) on the worst network- the galaxy S III unfortunately on T-Mobile

[XFF]

I think the real issue is the fact your phones don't come unlocked anyway. Its your phone, you purchased it. Even counting in the signing a contract for a subsidy, you own the phone. There isn't a lein against your phone nor does the contract specifically reference your phone. So, they sell you something, yet they lock it down.

All while using airwaves that are a public resource.

I would have to agree with you there. Contract and locked equipment sure seems like double dipping. Either one or the other would be acceptable in exchange for a subsidy, but leveraging both sure smells of unfair practices.

The future is in doing away with subsidies, locking, and contracts altogether, like where T-Mobile is heading.

[Droiiiiiiiiid]

Breaking News!

Man arrested for unlocking his cell phone! Faces multiple fines and possible jailtime!



Yeah not gonna happen.

[veriztd]

I think this only means that cell phone companies won't offer unlocking of devices any longer. I don't think that unlocking services will be going anywhere.

[tracyh]

I suppose some will unlock their phone after this date but I'm curious - does anyone know if this goes into effect tonight or midnight last night? btw, I did ask my carrier - Verizon - to unlock my phone. That wasn't a pleasant conversation.

[berry_lthird]

Thank you @howard and @wlo8 for helping get the word out!

[cmstlist]

The petition is 12% of the way to its goal after two days. It should take no more than a week.

While I'm sure unlock codes will still be easily available from international sellers on eBay etc, the question is whether eBay will crack down.

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[every1nosme]

Breaking News!

Man arrested for unlocking his cell phone! Faces multiple fines and possible jailtime!



Yeah not gonna happen.

One of the articles I read did mention the penalties for this. Didn't see any jail time mentioned and most of them seemed aimed at the third party unlockers and not the end consumer but the monetary fees involved looked pretty heavy. Most consumers wont be in danger of being charged with this and so it wont discourage people from wanting to unlock their phones but the problem will be in finding someone who will do it for them. From the way I read things it seems like the manufacturers were the ones that were supposed to be "protected" from the unlockers rather than the carriers so it will be interesting to see if companies like samsung or motorola will respond by allowing consumers to go directly to them for unlocking. The logic seems to be that by unlocking the phone you are altering the software which is copyrighted material that you don't own but the question I have is that since android is open source and people already alter it thru custom roms and whatnot does that mean android phones would be excluded from this? Who technically owns the android software?

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