Over 100,000 people have signed a White House petition calling for the re-legalization of unlocking cell phones, reaching the new signature minimum for a response from the Obama administration. While the president and his staff aren't obligated to take action one way or the other, they will at least be required to comment on the issue in the coming weeks.
The petition was promoted by the Librarian of Congress's decision last October to ban the unlocking of cell phones, a turn that shocked and angered many consumers. The pronouncement came under a new interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that states, "no person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."
The Librarian of Congress has the right to issue exemptions to this rule, which it did for phone unlocking in 2006 and 2010. However, the current Librarian, James Hadley Billington, decided to overturn the previous rulings late last year.
Under the current rules, which went into effect on January 26, consumers are no longer allowed to unlock their phones to use on a different network without the carrier's permission, even if the contract has expired. Additionally, consumers are locked into whatever roaming fees their carrier has set when traveling abroad.
The petition states that the policy, "reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full."
The wireless industry advocacy group CTIA responded by saying that, "the penalties for unlocking a subsidized wireless phone without carrier consent can be severe... Civil penalties are based on the carrier's actual damages and any additional profits of the violator, or a court can award statutory damages of not less than $200 or more than $2,500 per individual act."
The CTIA also argues that the locking of phones is essential to subsidize the cost of the hardware, and to make their money back over the course of a contract. They additionally state that it helps stop, "large scale phone trafficking operations," although they did not offer any data to back this claim up.
The executive branch does not have the power to force a decision in this matter, so the petition calls for the White House to urge the Librarian to rescind the decision, or to introduce new legislation on the matter. The petition is the first to reach 100,000 signatures after the new threshold was set, a White House comment is expected to come soon.