White House: cell phone unlocking should be legal
NEW YORK (AP) - An Obama administration adviser says the White House believes smartphone and tablet users should be allowed to unlock their phones and use the devices on the network of their choosing.
In a blog post entitled "It's time to legalize cell phone unlocking," R. David Edelman, White House adviser on Internet, innovation and privacy, responded to a petition about the issue by saying the administration feels consumers should be allowed to unlock their phones without civil or criminal penalties, especially if the phones were purchased secondhand or as gifts.
Edelman says the administration's opinion on the matter also goes for tablets, since they are becoming similar to smartphones.
He says the White House will work with the Federal Communications Commission to address the issue and will also support new legislation.
In a blog post entitled "It's time to legalize cell phone unlocking," R. David Edelman, White House adviser on Internet, innovation and privacy, responded to a petition about the issue by saying the administration feels consumers should be allowed to unlock their phones without civil or criminal penalties, especially if the phones were purchased secondhand or as gifts.
Edelman says the administration's opinion on the matter also goes for tablets, since they are becoming similar to smartphones.
He says the White House will work with the Federal Communications Commission to address the issue and will also support new legislation.
If you don't want to wait, do a search for businesses that will unlock GSM phones. CDMA phones are different. If you are computer savvy, you can do it your self, but you only get 10 chances to get it right before you brick your phone.
It should be required that ANY phone should be usable on ANY service.
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@TheUglyTruth I'm sorry, did you read the article at all? Obviously not, you rarely do. Let me point something out. The white house adviser was replying to an internet petition filed on the white house petition website. People are allowed to petition the government, and the government should respond. You'd be whining like a little girl if they didn't reply. Either way, all you do is whine. And that's the ugly truth.
There is software to unlock your phone
@Bert There is also a fine for doing so...
@uknow2Â @Bert There is a fine if you clone a phone, but there is no fine for unlocking one to use on a different network.
The wireless companies will just implement different technology so that you can not change carriers. So your unlock will be worthless. This already occurs, you can not take your verizon phone to ATT and vise versa.
@mike AT&T and Tmobile are GSM network. Verizon is CDMA network.
This is fantastic news, but watch the communications lobbyists come out and line your representatives pockets to keep it from happening. Â
@fulcrum Funny we can't tax a business but they can buy the government...
There's is the money to fill the budget....
It's called a 300% lobby tax..