Congress May Let You Unlock Your Cell Phone For Another Provider Legally

If you are fed up with your cell phone service provider, congress may soon let you unlock your cell phone for another provider legally. Up until now it has been illegal for consumers to take their smart phone and switch it to a new carrier without the old carrier’s permission.

The issue stems from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and how it is implemented by the Library of Congress, the part of government that oversees copyright issues.The law states that it is illegal to “circumvent a technological measure” which prevents someone from accessing or distributing copyrighted material, also known as DRM or Digital Rights Management. Illegally “cracking” a DVD or Blu-Ray and uploading it to the torrents of the web is an example. As with most laws involving rapidly changing technology, there are a number of grey areas which led to the inclusion of cell phones as part of the law. The question asked is unlocking your cell phone to work with another carrier the same as cracking a DVD?

So why does Congress have to make unlocking your cell phone a legal matter? In 2013, the Librarian of Congress decided not to renew an exemption that had been on the books since 2010 letting consumers unlock their phones to use on another carrier. Wireless providers are not keen on unlocking phones for customers, and it is easy to see why. Who wants to unlock a phone just so your customer can go to another service provider?

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act was passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday which will extend the exemption for 3 years when the Librarian of Congress will decide to renew it again or not. The measure The Inquisitr reported on earlier would once again make it technically legal for consumers to unlock their phones, but language inserted into the bill after it left committee has left some supporters of the legal unlocking bill less than happy.

According to the GOP summary of the bill with the new language: “This legislation allows any individual who wishes to unlock their cell phone for personal use to seek help from others without violating anti-circumvention provisions and clarifies that this bill does not permit the unlocking of cell phones for the purpose of bulk resale.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit international lobbyist group focusing on digital law and privacy causes, stated that the new language in the cell phone unlocking bill does 2 things wrong: limitations on business models that would use unlocked phones and the potential environmental consequences of phones being tossed that can be reused or recycled.

The FCC brokered a deal with 5 of the major carriers that would allow for customers to unlock their phones after the contract is up making it a more level playing field when it came time to make the decision to stay or jump ship. However with the current exemption expired the practice is again a risky endeavor.

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