Unauthorized Unlocking of New Mobile Phones Set to Become Illegal in U.S.

The solution to this mess.

Why not instead make the LOCKING of handsets illegal?

And for those that argue that this would make phone companies unable to provide handset subsidies, you still have to pay early termination fee to exit your contract early (effectively paying back the phone subsidy).

Locking handsets in one of the most anti-competitive practices that exists.

Hooray! Another win for corporate lobbyists!

In capitalism, competition ensures the consumers always win.

Plutonius said:

You will not find any unlocking service sold on ebay since last week. By legit, you mean it worked and not that it's legal after the law comes into effect.

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You are not able to confirm your statement by actually looking at Ebay?

blackburn said:

They cant even properly track a stolen phone. How the hell are they going to track unlocked ones?

Btw: I think it's illegal to unlock mobile phones in Portugal, but most shops do it, they just label it as an software upgrade.

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but what's really sad in Portugal, is that most consumers don't know that if they bought an unlocked iPhone via apple store (web), it will just about the same price as buying a locked one in a store, locked to a carrier like Vodafone, TMN or Optimus. so it's pretty silly to buy a locked phone in Portugal nowadays.

ThunderSkunk said:

Hooray! Another win for corporate lobbyists!

In capitalism, competition ensures the consumers always win.

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Except that government has nothing to do with capitalism. They either prevent corruption or create it. In this case, they are creating it.

nagromme said:

Actually, this is what government controlled by powerful corporations looks like! I'm all for government run well--by people, not by money. But money talks. Take government out of the picture or shrink it and you'd still have big money--big corporations--running the show. In fact, I'd say a WELL-run powerful government, wielding power by/for all people instead of the rich alone, is the only way to keep unreasonable power away from abusive corporations.

(Sadly, such a government is not what we have. The path to getting one begins, I feel, with a multiple-vote system, thus breaking the stagnant two-party system. Some cities use such a system already. They work!)

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Unfortunately its not possible to have a powerful central government be for the people — this country was founded on liberty and the idea that we are self governed. In the history of mankind powerful central governments always lead to tyranny. Big money big corporations among themselves are not the issue since corporation are just a organized groups of people with no authority to take your freedom away — the issue is the power structure between Big money big corporations and our federal government. Its not a structure for the people. The problem is we no longer follow our constitution, the federal government now decides who wins and who losses in every aspect of our lives.

hahahaha, seems like the world did end last year

I'm surprised.....

I thought the existing provision of DMCA that makes circumventing a protection measure illegal would already have made unlocking a phone, in a manner the network don't approve of, illegal.

I would also recommend extreme caution to anyone thinking of ignoring the ruling. The US justice system doesn't exactly operate with rehabilitation in mind.

DaveWil said:

Pay congress enough money and you can get any law passed.

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Spend $4 trillion you don't have and anybody can be President.

Isn't it an inside job through at&t anyway, meaning at&t can easily eliminate the culprit if they so desire?

Yet another law to ignore.

Internaut said:

I thought the existing provision of DMCA that makes circumventing a protection measure illegal would already have made unlocking a phone, in a manner the network don't approve of, illegal.

I would also recommend extreme caution to anyone thinking of ignoring the ruling. The US justice system doesn't exactly operate with rehabilitation in mind.

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What, are they going to throw you in one of America's Hardest Prisons for unlocking your phone?

This is one of many things to come..

I hope you all now see the USA's descent into TOTALITARIAN rule by the Communist government of the USA.. This is one of many things to come. Expect more of our freedoms to go by the waste side. I have been unlocking my phones for many years now and this is a direct blow to DEMOCRACY and Freedom.

The USA under the current Communist regime has no right to take our freedoms away.. Who cares if one wants to unlock their own phone for use on another carrier. I say its time for the people to stand up and revolt against this new law.. We need to mobilize massive protests against this decision by our government.

Yes, 1984 is happening all over again.. The US Government has become far too powerful and corrupt.. but this is just what happened in the 1930s when Germany's government went down the toilet.. The same will happen to the US..

People wake up!!! If you think taking our rights to unlocking our phones for use on another carrier is bad, wait until the next few months and years.. Yes, things are going to get ugly.

I was not born in America, but I can sense the danger of the current regime in this country.

This is what I consider big government, regardless of this actually being enforceable.

This is what happens when you don't participate in your government people and give it away to these very corporations that lobby for these anti-consumer laws. We in the United States have the best government that money can buy by these corny capitalists.

The wording of the ruling is iffy, at best.

How will they determine whether an iPhone or any other phone for that matter, is on contract? Isn't that the only phones that they look to ban from unlocking? That is, phones that are STILL under contract.


It seems the unlock services will stay around to unlock phones since it's likely that most of their unlock requests are for phones that are not under contract. Besides, AT&T before wouldn't unlock phones out of contract but that was pretty easy to get around for those who knew how.

I feel this is aimed more at unauthorized unlocking such as hardware or software mods, since you know, that language is specifically stated in the ruling.

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JayLenochiniMac said:

Isn't it an inside job through at&t anyway, meaning at&t can easily eliminate the culprit if they so desire?

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Unlocking of iPhones? I think that's done at apple through requests from carriers.

way to take a big step backwards US!

As somebody else posted - you're in contract, so you have to pay the carrier, why do they care if you unlock your phone.... and MORE IMPORTANTLY why is corporate bribery of this sort tolerated? Oh sorry, you call it "lobbying" don't you.

paul4339 said:

Does ATT offer discounted cell/data plans if you already own your unlocked phone? (that is, do they offer subsidized and un-subsidized plans at different prices?)

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no they don't, you still have to pay the same crappy rates as the subsidized phones.

mrsir2009 said:

What, are they going to throw you in one of America's Hardest Prisons for unlocking your phone?

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You'd be surprised what you can get thrown into prison for here in the USA. I was listening to a story earlier today where a woman was thrown into prison for having the wrong last name, looking like she was of middle-eastern decent, and sitting next to two middle-eastern looking people on a plane. All the while, she was simply headed home to her middle-class life to her twin children from a trip to visit family on the other side of the country.

Since 9/11 and the passage of the so-called Patriot Act, which actually restricted the freedoms of the citizens of the USA, our country has gone deep into the toilet.

PowerPCMacMan said:

I hope you all now see the USA's descent into TOTALITARIAN rule by the Communist government of the USA.. This is one of many things to come. Expect more of our freedoms to go by the waste side. I have been unlocking my phones for many years now and this is a direct blow to DEMOCRACY and Freedom.

The USA under the current Communist regime has no right to take our freedoms away.. Who cares if one wants to unlock their own phone for use on another carrier. I say its time for the people to stand up and revolt against this new law.. We need to mobilize massive protests against this decision by our government.

Yes, 1984 is happening all over again.. The US Government has become far too powerful and corrupt.. but this is just what happened in the 1930s when Germany's government went down the toilet.. The same will happen to the US..

People wake up!!! If you think taking our rights to unlocking our phones for use on another carrier is bad, wait until the next few months and years.. Yes, things are going to get ugly.

I was not born in America, but I can sense the danger of the current regime in this country.

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Fascists, oligarchs, and hard-right crazies have taken over our country. It's the minority that is telling the majority what to do these day.

Geart, lobbying always pays off.

This is ********!

Haha, what a backwards country.

Anybody still planning on trying to get an online unlock before they disappear?
For $4-10 I always wanted to bite the bullet, but trying to find a legit one after they went down on eBay and now the legal issues, I don't know if it's worth it.

I'm so glad they have their priorities straight. All these unlocked phones KILL PEOPLE.

"Fascists, oligarchs, and hard-right crazies have taken over our country. It's the minority that is telling the majority what to do these day."

This!!!!!!

iMikeT said:

This is what I consider big government, regardless of this actually being enforceable.

This is what happens when you don't participate in your government people and give it away to these very corporations that lobby for these anti-consumer laws. We in the United States have the best government that money can buy by these corny capitalists.

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Yes, we are going back, one step at a time.

Whats the next step? We want to contractually tie the car manufacturers to gas station brands, i.e., you can get a subsidized Toyota if you sign a 5-year contract with Shell. If you have a Toyota and buy gas from Chevron, you will be arrested.