Congress appears ready to take action to make unlocking cell phones legal again. Three Senators have introduced a bipartisan bill directing service providers to allow subscribers to unlock their phones. Wireless Consumer Choice Act is sponsored by Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal, and by Republican Mike Lee.
The Senate action follows calls from the White House and the Federal Communications Commission to let consumers unlock their phones. Unlocked phones can be used on any carrier network that is compatible with the phone’s cellular modem. For example, an unlocked GSM phone purchased from AT&T might work on T-Mobile USA’s GSM network, but would not work on Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network.
Currently it is illegal to unlock a mobile phone purchased on or after January 26 without explicit carrier permission. The software that locks phones is protected by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, but that software had been exempt from the act until the Library of Congress’s Copyright Office allowed the exemption to expire in January.
“This legislation is common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring healthy competition in the market,” Senator Blumenthal said in a statement. Regional carriers in the U.S. have echoed that sentiment, calling for an end to the ban on unlocking phones.
“Having the ability to unlock a device is particularly important for rural, regional and smaller carriers that lack the scope and scale to gain access to the latest, most iconic devices directly from the equipment manufacturers,” said Steven Berry, president and CEO of the Competitive Carriers Association. Berry said U.S. consumers should be able to use “the device of their choosing with the carrier that provides the best service to meet their needs.”
The Library of Congress says its Copyright Office cannot provide permanent exemptions to laws like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and that its rules cannot serve as a “substitute for deliberations of broader public policy.”
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