Advanced

Unlocking new cell phones to become illegal on Saturday

Posted by BernardSwiss on · 4 comments
Ars Technica; By Timothy B. Lee
Mail this story
Print this story

The two previous batches of regulations, issued in 2006 and 2010, respectively, granted users permission to unlock their phones in order to switch wireless carriers. But in the wake of a 2010 decision holding that software is licensed rather than sold, the Library reversed itself and declared phone unlocking illegal once again. The Librarian was also influenced by claims that there are more unlocked phones on the market than there were three years ago.

Full Story

  Nav
» Read more about: Story Type: News Story; Groups: Intellectual Property, Standards

» Get new stories by e-mail: nightly or as they are published

« Return to the newswire homepage

  Related stories
» More like this

Comments (4)

One more reason why I'll never have a "monthly bite" cell phone or e-reader and why I use Linux. Usta be when you bought something, you owned it outright. Not any more. Now, the dirtbags want to own their product in perpetuity. Too bad you can't eat a cell phone app. I'd love to return a steaming pile of app for a refund.
@notbob --

Amen.

Technically speaking, I'm not sure that it's really illegal to unlock cell phones. The exception to DMCA has been eliminated, but no court case has ever determined that an exception was needed.

The problem, of course, is that mere mortals can't afford to be the guinea pigs for this proposition.
I have one simple word for this: unenforceable.
@caitlyn, sadly, it is enforceable.

For the most part, I believe that people buy unlock codes from unlocking-services. Those guys are natural targets.

I would bet the carriers don't care about getting onesies and twosies so much as locking up the bulk of the phones.

Post a comment

A free account is needed to post. Write your comment here first: your text is kept in this browser while you sign up or log in, and is waiting for you when you come back.

Your message:
|||||
10
Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [text](https://link), - lists, > quotes, $x^2$ for math. Formatting help

Sign up and post (it is free)  or  Log in and post