Senator Introduces Legislation To Make Cell Phone Unlocking Legal Again

Thanks to a DMCA revision by the Library of Congress, it is now illegal for you to unlock your phone without first getting approval from your carrier. However, a recent White House petition, which garnered the signatures of over 114,000 people, is causing politicians to speak out against the ruling.

The Obama administration officially responded to the petition, agreeing that phone unlocking shouldn't be barred. However, the White House does not have the power to overturn the decision. Luckily, a Minnesota senator has taken up the cause, drafting legislation that would overrule the current DMCA policy, making it legal again for users to unlock their mobile phones.

The politician in question is Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, who says that "consumers should be free to choose the phone and service that best fits their needs and their budgets. I will continue to work to advance commonsense measures to protect consumers and promote competition."

It seems like this will be a major turning point in the battle for consumer's rights. After all, the fact that you cannot make changes to a device that you technically own, even after your contract with the provider has expired, does not make much sense. The only party the current DMCA ruling benefits is mobile providers, who can now prevent the reselling of old phones, or force customers to renew their contracts to continue using their device.

The specific plans for the bill will be revealed later this week, when it is officially introduced. Considering the public outcry, and the White House's support on the matter, it seems likely that it will gain a significant amount of support.

The CTIA, an organization that represents the interests of many of the country's wireless providers, made a statement yesterday attempting to downplay the DMCA revision. They stated that most users will be unaffected "because the largest nationwide carriers have liberal, publicly available unlocking policies, and because unlocked phones are freely available in the marketplace - many at low prices."

**Update: The article has been corrected to fix a typo that stated the Obama admnistration backs the DCMA decision.