Phone unlocking, to be clear, is legal in the United States if the phone in question is out of a service contract. Even though some companies have a hard time of coping with this reality, it’s codefied law of the land here. But what AT&T accuses three former employees, one owner of an unlocked phone resale company and 50 unnamed people of doing definitely raises some eyebrows.In the case filed in Seattle ...
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Have you ever unlocked a smartphone so that you could drop in a new SIM and take it to another carrier? Maybe some else has a better deal, or you’re traveling internationally and want to make sure you’re taking advantage of the cheapest local rates. Whatever your reason, removing a phone’s carrier lock is something that plenty of smartphone users find themselves interested in. And while you might have a general idea of under what circumstances your carrier will unlock your phone for ...
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For the past couple weeks, we’ve been following the very swift progress the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act has been making on its way to becoming law in the US. First the Senate passed the bill, and a week later the House gave its own approval. That just left a presidential signature needed before the Act would become law, and today President Obama’s delivering just that, ...
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A little over a week back, proponents of a free and open smartphone landscape got some promising news, as the latest bill with its eye on restoring consumer rights in regards to phone unlocking passed in the US Senate. While unlocking had previously been allowed under an exemption to the DMCA, the Library of Congress failed to renew that option, and now Congress was looking to force the Library to reconsider that decision. Today we get the latest news on the bill’s progress, as the House of ...
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Last week saw the US make some big progress towards giving smartphone owners back the ability to unlock their handsets as they please. And while we very much look forward to the day when that right will once again be insured, right now many carriers already do a decent job at unlocking phones when asked. Sure, they often impose a variety of conditions that need to be fulfilled before they’ll grant those requests, but if your phone is eligible, unlocking can be as close as a phone call away. By ...
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Right now in the US, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prevents unauthorized unlocking of smartphone hardware for operation on another carrier. In the past, unlocking had been awarded a specific DMCA exemption, but after that rule failed to be renewed, the practice returned to illegality. Ever since, there’s been talk from multiple branches of government suggesting that a change of law needs to happen, firmly ...
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Is the FCC finally becoming… cool? It’s always put up a bit of a fight with carriers, but recent news has really started making it seem like it’s no longer just another cog in an industry-friendly machine, and more an agency that truly has the public’s back. A little earlier this month we told you about the arrival of a speed test app that may be used to hold carriers accountable for delivering the performance they advertise, and today we hear the ...
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There’s been a major shift in the public perception of the DMCA’s treatment of smartphone carrier unlocking this month, and following a statement by the White House that it supported changing the existing law, we started hearing about legislation aimed at doing just that. It quickly became a hot-button topic with Congress, and we told you about one such proposal, the Wireless Device Independence Act. Now there’s a new ...
AT&T released a statement this morning on its Public Policy Blog, in response to the recent grass-roots efforts seeking legislative action to remove the DMCA prohibition on carrier-unlocking smartphones. AT&T contends that such action isn’t necessary, as the current situation permits carriers to unlock phones at their customers’ request, which AT&T says it’s more than happy to do. The problem is, that ...
March is sure shaping up to be a great month for proponents of smartphone users’ rights in the US. First we saw the chair of the FCC talk about supporting work towards once again legalizing end-user smartphone unlocking, and earlier this week we heard the White House throw its weight behind efforts to accomplish the same goal. In its statement, the White House mentioned seeking legislation to free unlocking from the oversight of the ...