Cellphone Unlocking Law

After over 100,000 people signed a petition to the White House regarding the January law that made it a federal crime to unlock a cellphone to allow them to be used on different wireless networks without the current carrier's permission, the Obama Administration is pushing to have the prohibition reversed.  This may need changes to the federal copyright law to occur.

“Neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation,” wrote R. David Edelman, White House Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation, & Privacy. “This is particularly important for secondhand or other mobile devices that you might buy or receive as a gift, and want to activate on the wireless network that meets your needs — even if it isn’t the one on which the device was first activated. All consumers deserve that flexibility.”

“The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space,” Edelman added.
Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/03/05/obama-administration-mobile-phone-unlocking-should-be-legal/#ixzz2MgcYhZrM