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Myiphone7

macrumors 6502a
Nov 18, 2010
848
0
It's total BULL. Let's all sign this thing and see what they have to say about it.

The truth is AT&T got lobbyist who get paid millions over their career to tell the government what to do that best benefits AT&T the most.

And we thought they did what benefited the people the most.
 

saud0488

macrumors 6502
Aug 18, 2011
495
0
Seriously it's just a phone. Doesn't the US government have better things to worry about?

Seriously it's just two guys wanting the government to recognize their marriage. Doesn't the government have better things to worry about? Like poverty, world hunger, genocides, etc.

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I thought it was 25,000.

It used to be, not it's 100 since the forum to petition got so popular.

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Everyone should sign this though. If only to get your iPhone unlocked for free as stated above. This is a big deal and could end up saving you thousands if you travel overseas.
 

rjtyork

macrumors regular
Jun 10, 2009
198
323
I don't even care

I'll unlock my phone and do whatever I want with it. I paid for it, it's in my pocket. If they want to look through my phone and try to slap me with some stupid fine for unlocking my phone, I'll make them wish they never violated my 4th amendment right. Big Government and corporations can suck it. "if a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey, he is obligated to do so". Thomas Jefferson would be all for this law to be broken. If we let them get away with this, they'll push even further and take a whole mile. I wish more Americans would draw the line in the sand and put their foot down. Maybe then we wouldn't see such a rapid grab for our liberties. Oh, well. Eventually everyone will be mad enough to care. Until then, I'll campaign for Ron Paul 2016!
 

macsrcool1234

Suspended
Oct 7, 2010
1,551
2,130
These are a complete joke. The Obama administration only replies to these when it's politically convenient to do so. How many finished ones are just laying around?
 

Undecided

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2005
704
168
California
Govt cares about the Corporation. they do not care about people!. what is new?

I disagree. Individuals care only for themselves, and that includes politicians. (Probably especially politicians.) Therefore, individuals in government will do what they think, in the long run, will maximize their benefit. Sometimes this means catering to corporations and their contributions, but other times it means pandering to individual voters to ensure re-election and the resulting continuing stream of income and influence.
 

baryon

macrumors 68040
Oct 3, 2009
3,878
2,929
This is exactly why I don't have a smartphone and won't have one anytime soon. I spend half of my year in one country and the other half in another. Am I meant to buy two phones, and pay for two contracts simultaneously? Something is seriously wrong with how this works.

If you have to force people to use your carrier by making it illegal to use other carriers, you are clearly a bad carrier to begin with.
 

Daalseth

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2012
599
306
Don't really care for unlocking...

Don't confuse Unlocking (so your phone will run on any cellular service you want just by changing the SIM card) with Jailbreaking (to allow you to install any software you want from any source you want). I support the former. Phones should never be locked. A locked phone is like buying a car and being forced to buy your tires and gas from the dealer. I have no interest in the latter. To me buying only from the iOS App Store is like buying pasteurized milk, it just makes things safer.
 

Undecided

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2005
704
168
California
I don't get why need it to be illegal. They could just make the contract exit so expensive that it isn't worth it. You gradually pay off the phone and if you exit in the first few month you pay extra or hand the hardware back.

It is done already they don't need to criminalize anything. In any case I doubt the ban would deter anyone anyway. In some european contracts it is said to be illegal and nobody cares. If it is possible, people end up doing it.

My understanding is that it's not about exiting your contract but, rather, being able to pop in a SIM from another carrier (even if you still have to maintain your original contract). Like, when traveling overseas for 2 weeks, I'd like to put in a local SIM. Carriers in the US make incrementally more money by forcing you to "roam" and incur additional charges. Do they rely upon those charges in the aggregate? I don't know. I suppose it's calculable and so what if having an unlocked phone (but still having a contract) resulting in a small up front charge, like $25?

Bottom line, when buying a phone, the price options should not be locked vs. unlocked but subsidized vs. unsubsidized, but that might mean carriers have to charge a little more to make up for the lost revenue from roamers.
 

Daalseth

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2012
599
306
This is exactly why I don't have a smartphone and won't have one anytime soon.

I (career IT geek, technomage, and gadget freak) don't have one either. Just a simple, cheap dumb phone on pay as you go. Here in Canada you have a choice of three major carriers that collude on price and own the CRTC. Your phone is locked. I even asked a dealer if I could bring in my own unlocked phone and get on their month by month service. He said yes but the phone would have to be locked to their carrier network. Not only that, they were going to charge me for locking my phone. He gave me some fake techno double speak about how the phone had to be locked to their data service for it to work. I told him where to shove it and left.

Smart phones are a great technology that will only last until the carriers screw it up.
 

TallManNY

macrumors 601
Nov 5, 2007
4,742
1,594
Don't confuse Unlocking (so your phone will run on any cellular service you want just by changing the SIM card) with Jailbreaking (to allow you to install any software you want from any source you want). I support the former. Phones should never be locked. A locked phone is like buying a car and being forced to buy your tires and gas from the dealer. I have no interest in the latter. To me buying only from the iOS App Store is like buying pasteurized milk, it just makes things safer.

No. A locked phone is like buying a car from a dealer for 1/3 of the cost you expected, with a requirement that you buy their tire and gas. You got the upfront savings by buying the subsidized phone. The long term contract and locked up feature of the phone you bought is part of the deal.

The problem is that is basically a pretty bad deal for consumers. So Congress really shouldn't be making things easier for cell phone companies and they shouldn't be making a law making unlocking illegal. However, you have to acknowledge that at least initially when you get that cheap subsidized phone, that you owe something to cell phone company for that.
 

ouimetnick

macrumors 68040
Aug 28, 2008
3,552
6,341
Beverly, Massachusetts
Well, the point is that if it gets to 100,000 signatures, the government under its own rules will have to respond. Now, whether they'll actually say anything in their response is another matter.

But they did come out firmly against building a Death Star, so there's that.

Aren't we still waiting to see if they will declare WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) as a hate group? That got many more signatures than what was required.
 
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