Sign the Petition to Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal
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Posted January 27, 2013 at 4:10am by iClarified
A petition has been started at WhiteHouse.gov to Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal. If enough signatures are received it will be sent to the appropriate policy officials in the Obama administration and an official response will be posted to the petition page and sent to those who signed the petition.
--- The Librarian of Congress decided in October 2012 that unlocking of cell phones would be removed from the exceptions to the DMCA. As of January 26, consumers will no longer be able unlock their phones for use on a different network without carrier permission, even after their contract has expired.
Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked.
We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal. ---
We strongly suggest that you sign the petition if you can. More details about the Library of Congress' decision to remove the exemption for unlocking phones can be found here.
Dr Usha Rajagopal plastic surgeon - April 26, 2013 at 6:39am
Very nice and useful information. Why not write a book about this particular subject. For today’s economic variation and be short of of opportunities, it actually will be a very hot topic. Thanks a lot
I'm agree to sign this petition. If phone is no longer be able to unlocked, It will have a lot of useless phone in this country. Is it our freedom? It is our own phone. Why do they care about your property?
I thruly belive that most be over 500,000 people that depend on unLock iphone, and when there is a petition asking for 100,000 sign and only 25,000 people had sign it to the moment, but yeah to come here and demand unLock from Dev-Team when they can't even sign a petition is really pathetic and sad at the same time...
ps: i sign it. and i don't really need it.
im agree to sign this petition because some of our costumer need to use their fone ,it becomes useless if the unlocked fone cant be used,,,and as a technician i really agree to this because it is a part of my work and fashion
p0werph0ne
tHeusMarikina
this is only if you're on a contract, where the company gives you the phone to sign up for a term on their connection.
You can still buy unlocked phones. You will still be able to unlock after a certain period of time. I think it's fair - they put you on a plan, they give you a phone, they need to get there money some how.
I think the internet is getting a little too fired up about this.. but im not American, so it doesn't really effect me..
You're right. What's the issue, by an unlocked phone if you don't like it. If enough people do that then they'll get the message (and probably react by not letting unlocked phones on their service:-).
This is crazy, surely if you own the cellphone/mobile phone, it is now yours do as you please... just like computers, you can upgrade them, add components to them etc.. The same principle should apply? You should also have the choice to move from one network to another when and how you feel like without hindrance.
Jailbreaking and unlocking are part of our freedom rights. We deserve to be free from restriction of phone carriers who tried to lock and monopoly our phones.
Jailbreaking and unlocking are part of our freedom rights. We deserve to be free from restriction of phone carriers who tried to lock and monopoly our phones. We bought it, we owned it, and we can do whatever with it. Whoever tried to restrict it shall be served. Jailbreaking/unlocking is parts of skills and arts, not part of DMCA. MPAA should do their job taking down DMCA websites, but not taking down jailbreaking/ unlocking. Screw them, we shall be united to be strong and to make things right! They must be served!
The hardware belongs to you but the software belongs to their respected owners. Copyrights are still copyrights and even though we have rights to do what we want with our devices, we do not have rights to do what we want to our devices. Once you have your own company, you would understand.
What you said is non-sense. When you bought the hardware, it comes with software installed, otherwise how would you operate it? Can you buy iphone without ios installed? If so, please elaborate. We customers paid for both hardware and software. How do you think the software department get paid if it's not shared by total amount customer paid? Do you think by doing this will stop pirating like you said?
Actually, with the newer 4G iPhones, each iPhone is dedicated to a specific network (physically). The only way to "unlock" it is to switch to a 3G network, which most networks are allowing you to do on a voluntary basis. So there's not much point in legally allowing personal unlocking. Now, if you've got a petition to make Jailbreaking legal, then I'll sign THAT one!
Actually, the real question is why "The Library of Congress" has suddenly decided it's officially in the business of passing laws? Making judgments on what's legal in cellphones has NEVER been in it's pervue. It sounds like some minor bureaucrat decided to make a name for the LoC by making a blanket statement that he wasn't authorized to make.
The Congress is in charge of making laws. They are also in charge of our country's economy. Be thankful they doing things we're not able to do for an entire nation.
Oh, please! Yes, this particular issue is a problem in America. Other countries have different issues. Consider the EU, where they mandate that everyone must buy an extended warranty. [It is disguised as a consumer protection item, where they get it 'for free', but in reality, it just allows the manufacturers to build the cost into the base price and collect it from everyone, whether the individual consumer feels it worthwhile or not]. Businesses control ALL governments, whether or not we choose to believe it.