Senator Working on Bill To Make Phone Unlocking Legal Again
A U.S. senator plans to introduce a bill that will make unlocking smartphones legal.
After the FCC said that it planned to investigate a recent decision to make smartphone unlocking illegal, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar said that she is introducing legislation this week that will re-enable consumers the ability to unlock their phones. Klobuchar is a member of the Senate Commerce Committee and chairs the Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.
The announcement arrives after the White House responded to a WeThe People petition urging the Obama administration to reverse the unlocking decision, agreeing that consumers should have the right to use their phones on a different carrier once the contract is fulfilled. As it stands now, consumers face a $500,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison if found liable.
"Consumers should be free to choose the phone and service that best fits their needs and their budgets," Klobuchar said on Tuesday. "We need to make sure consumers are getting a fair deal and today’s announcement is a welcome step towards implementing consumer-friendly policies in the wireless industry. That’s why I’m introducing legislation this week to get rid of the ban on unlocking cell phones."
The controversy began in January when the Library of Congress allowed an exemption of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, to lapse. It actually expired in October 2012, but a grace period allowed the government to renew the exemption before the end of January. The exemption was added to the DMCA just after it went into effect so that unlocking smartphones wouldn't be illegal. Now consumers who purchase a smartphone after January 2013 cannot move the device to another carrier even if the contract is fulfilled.
"If you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network," said White House Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation, & Privacy David Edelman. "It's common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers' needs."
Senator Klobuchar said she will continue to work to advance commonsense measures to protect consumers and promote competition.
Probably not they receive too much money from the big corps.
Probably not they receive too much money from the big corps.
I sort of agree with your point, but this is a terrible example to illustrate it. If I as a consumer was defrauded by a used car salesman, he probably deserves some sort of punishment. Likewise, to have a punishment that is unsuitable for the crime is also ridiculous. If I simply want to unlock my device so I can get updates to an OS that is given out for free, but the carriers are too lazy to do so, then we should be able to unlock the device, regardless of payment or contract status. Also, to set the fine at $500,000 for that is a bit ridiculous. It should be no more than twice the value of the contract in my opinion. So somewhere around $2,400 would be a fitting punishment.
I do think that this new legislation is actually a good idea, but would not be necessary if our copyright system/DMCA wasn't as badly broken as it is.
A good idea would be to vote with your dollars and simply buy a Nexus branded device that actually gets software support, doesn't come preloaded with junk apps that can't be removed, you can actually use NFC if it is included on your device, unlike verizon's effort to block that service etc. The only reason left after that is the switching carriers issue. That one is why we need this legislation.
Unfortunately, exactly correct. Crony capitalism is the 'thud' hitting and making the USA move fwd today.
not 100% crony capitalism. you have to remember, however fraudulent the campaign, people voted these guys into office. honestly if you can't be bothered to check a senator or house member's past voting record, or you're too stupid to know that everyone should get their news from more than one source, you shouldn't be voting... but alas, with the funding cuts we won't have much of an education system to teach people that...
Now we need to clone them and replace the broken ones(DOA).
In fact I unlocked my current phone was unlocked for like 5$ and use it on another network even though the guy I bought it from still has 1 year left of his contract. Don't even know if he pays it but hey, not my problem.
The situation in the US is getting uglier every day, I woudn't like it there. It seems the big corporations are actually running the country and people seem more like sheep.
I like my freedoms, I like to be able to unlock my cell phone or yes, even download stuff from piratebay if I want to
US's days of excess which promoted arrogance and greed and indeed turning against them.
Oh well... you know most of the richest people in US history never finished college. In fact the top 3 richest men in US History never went to highchool. The more educated we have become, the poorer we have become. There is a strong connection between being poor and spending many years of your life in school.....
Now back to the topic..... I disagree about it not being 100 percent crony capitalism, because it clearly is. We had the same sort of laws passed both by republicans and democrats (although at least the GOP didn't lie about it up front).
I would buy a Nexus device IF it supposed LTE and had a microSD slot. The lack of the two are a deal breaker.
A nexus device can still be sold with a locked sim slot - which is what this bill addresses. Pretty much any nexus sold through a carrier and subsidized is sim locked.
I agree though, bootloader locking should also be made illegal. The only reason carriers like it is because it makes it harder for us to get around their ridiculous fees and BS pricing they shove down our throats.
I do think that this new legislation is actually a good idea, but would not be necessary if our copyright system/DMCA wasn't as badly broken as it is.
A good idea would be to vote with your dollars and simply buy a Nexus branded device that actually gets software support, doesn't come preloaded with junk apps that can't be removed, you can actually use NFC if it is included on your device, unlike verizon's effort to block that service etc. The only reason left after that is the switching carriers issue. That one is why we need this legislation.
I guess my point is we already have a system in place for dealing with misuse of rented, leased or subsidized property, and we have a system to deal with breach of contract. It’s called civil court.
Why should the feds get involved and make this an offense that deserves jail time? Why should tax dollars be wasted on prosecuting and incarcerating someone who breaks a contract? If they commit fraud they should be charged with fraud. If the breach of contract damages the company the contract is with they should sue for damages.
My point of the guy with the used cars is he got off pretty easy for something in my mind is a much much worse offense than unlocking a phone. I guess if you are a huge organization with tons of lobbying dollars you can get any law you want put in place, even it is completely unfair. People charged with armed robbery or aggravated assault can get off with less of a punishment than 5 years and half a million.
Yes, exactly. The only reason Congress is even involved in this sort of thing is that the Federal Government has been abusing the living bleep out of the Interstate Commerce clause for decades -- and so now we're reliant on Congress periodically to renew or weigh in on the terms of an absolutely immense and byzantine collection of laws and regulations, of which many have no obvious purpose because they're already (or should already be) covered by broader statutes.
Half the Congress probably isn't even aware of matters like this one until they're thrust into the public eye.
We're talking about an effing phone contract. If there's a dispute between the two parties to that contract, then they can handle the matter civilly. If the phone carrier/vendor feels its property was stolen, then they can report the crime to the police, just as you would if someone walked into a Verizon store and stole a phone from the shelf. No one would consider it remotely appropriate to have Congress dictate the local laws regarding shoplifting, and yet here we are, watching Congress dictate an absurd minimum penalty for what amounts to (at the very worst) the theft of an item worth less than a thousand dollars.