[ale] [OT] White House Petition to Legalize Mobile-Phone Unlocking

Charles Shapiro hooterpincher at gmail.com
Sat Mar 9 11:34:26 EST 2013


Hah hah. Too bad it's not *up* to the White House. The library of Congress
is part of the legislative branch.

-- CHS


On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 11:15 AM, Scott Plante <splante at insightsys.com>wrote:

>
> Looks like the petition is having some effect.
>
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323494504578340623936989386.html
>
> =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
>
> White House Backs Phone 'Unlocking'
>
> WASHINGTON—Americans should be able to take their used cellphones and
> tablets freely from one wireless carrier to another if they aren't under
> contract, the White House said Monday, offering the latest victory to
> Internet activists seeking to shape U.S. technology policy.
> ...
> The White House said consumers should still be required to honor service
> agreements.
> ...
> Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski recently
> said he intends to look into the issue of unlocked cellphones, a move the
> White House said it would support. It is unclear what regulatory authority
> the commission has in this case.
> The Library of Congress defended its rule-making process in a statement
> Monday, but it said it agreed that the issue was worthy of further review
> in the context of telecommunications policy.
> ...
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Brian Mathis" <brian.mathis+ale at betteradmin.com>
> To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale at ale.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2013 10:09:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [ale] [OT] White House Petition to Legalize Mobile-Phone
> Unlocking
>
> Yes, AFAIK, jailbreaking phones is still legal, but that doesn't mean
> the manufacturer has to make it easy or even possible.
>
> Jailbreak = getting out of chroot so you can do other things with the phone
> Unlock = Phone will only receive service on the carrier the phone is
> locked to
>
>
> ❧ Brian Mathis
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 9:20 AM, Charles Shapiro
> <hooterpincher at gmail.com> wrote:
> > What? My understanding was that the DMCA provision affected *only
> > unlocking* the phone, and that rooting it or installing a 3rd-party OS
> was
> > still legal ( although it could theoretically expose you to civil suit).
> > That said, my desultory research shows it _is_ illegal to jailbreak your
> > tablet.
> >
> >
> http://gizmodo.com/5955130/jailbreaking-is-now-legal-for-smartphonesbut-not-tablets?tag=dmca
> >
> > Not that any of this makes sense.
> >
> > -- CHS
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Reread the rules. You can't root a phone that under discount-based
> >> contract. It doesn't belong to you until the contract is over. It's a
> lease
> >> to own.
> >>
> >> Yes, I want to remove the facebook app that Verizon installs by default
> on
> >> my jelly-bean phone. But I can't until I own it free and clear.
> >>
> >> This doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to require customer service from
> >> Verizon and demand they remove the app I don''t want so I have more
> >> resources for what I do want.
> >>
> >> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 7:20 PM, Brian Mathis
> >> <brian.mathis+ale at betteradmin.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Why should you need to ask permission to unlock your phone? You paid
> >>> for it. If you want to break the contract that's fine, but you would
> >>> be subject to a termination fee which should cover the subsidy. And
> >>> since most contracts already have large termination fees, they can't
> >>> argue that it's about that.
> >>>
> >>> Worse is that the phone is still locked after the contract is over.
> >>> If I want to sell my old phone, I need to hope that the phone company
> >>> will give their blessing, and many have rules that you must have an
> >>> active account, it must be in good standing, etc... in order to unlock
> >>> it. This is *after* you have paid off the contract and probably
> >>> signed onto a new one with a new device.
> >>>
> >>> The only reason is to increase the friction for you leaving for
> >>> another carrier, and that is anti-consumer and can only happen in an
> >>> oligopolistic market.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ❧ Brian Mathis
> >>>
> >>> P.S. Why does my phone bill not go down after I have supposedly paid
> >>> off the subsidy? Because the prices of non-contract phones are
> >>> inflated on purpose as an incentive to sign a contract.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 11:44 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
> >>> > Or we can just purchase unlocked phones. There are lots of choices.
> >>> > Nobody forces anyone to buy a subsidized phone, though the fact that
> cell
> >>> > plans do not include a BYOD discount is a problem.
> >>> >
> >>> > Last fall, I contacted t-mobile to get a locked phone unlocked prior
> to
> >>> > an overseas trip. About 5 days later an email arrived with the
> unlock code.
> >>> > No real difficulty at all, except the wait.
> >>> >
> >>> > Remember when cell phones were a convenience?
> >>> >
> >>>
>
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