Unlocking Your Smartphone Soon to be Illegal
262Starting Saturday January 26th, unlocking your smartphone will be illegal. You can still get a carrier to unlock for you, but if it's "unauthorized," the act is no longer protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. You can also buy a new phone unlocked, but of course, they cost much more than phones tied to a carrier.
So, what do you do if you want your phone unlocked after Saturday? It's not crystal clear yet what the penalties could be for consumers unlocking their own phones, but will you do it anyway? For that matter, what's the point of doing any of this, if not for money?
****Here is the White House "We Are the People" petition to decriminalize smartphone unlocking! Please check it out, and give it your support if you're opposed to the Library of Congress' law:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal/1g9KhZG7
Read more from David Kravets/ Wired:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/mobile-phone-unlocking/
PDF from Library of Congress: https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2012-26308.pdf
Verizon crackdown letter on unauthorized unlocks from Daily Tech: http://www.dailytech.com/Verizon+Complains+That+it+Must+Lock+Android+Devices+in+Order+to+Manage+Them/article24133.htm
-Kim
Like what you see? Please support us for free by subscribing to Nerd Alert, a part of the TYT Network: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=nerdalert
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdAlertTYT
Kim Horcher: https://twitter.com/kimscorcher