DMCA

House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders joined the cell phone unlocking debate last week by introducing a pair of new bills.  If enacted, the bills would overturn an October 2012 regulation issued by the Library of Congress, which effectively prohibits consumers from unlocking cell phones purchased after January 26, 2013 so that they may be used on other networks.

The bills — H.R. 1123 and S. 517 — take a narrow approach, similar to the one advocated by the White House, by temporarily re-enacting an older Library of Congress rule that allows unlocking.  That policy would remain in place until 2015, at which point the Library would revisit the matter.  The bills also direct the Library to determine whether consumers should be permitted to unlock tablets and other wireless devices.  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, the Senate measure’s sponsor, explained in a March 11 floor statement that the tablet proceeding “makes sense” because “the line between phone and tablet is beginning to blur.”
Continue Reading Cell Phone Unlocking Push Moves to Congress

The Obama administration issued a statement on Monday declaring that consumers not bound by service agreements should be able to unlock their cellular devices for use with other network providers.  In the official response to a petition on the We The People website, a senior White House advisor on the Internet, innovation and privacy agreed with more than 114,000 signatories that it makes “common sense” to allow users to unlock their smart phones and, potentially, tablets without incurring criminal or other penalties.

Cell phone unlocking can run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which prohibits circumvention of technological protection measures that control access to a phone’s copyrighted software.  In 2006 and 2010, the Library of Congress had exempted the practice from the DMCA’s prohibition under its power to issue three-year exemptions to the statute.  But the 2012 exemptions put in place last fall do not extend to the unlocking of cell phones acquired after January 26th of this year.

The White House statement expressed disagreement with this policy, maintaining that cell phone unlocking protects consumer choice and fosters a competitive and innovative wireless market.  Also on Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski echoed these concerns and advised that the agency is examining the issue.


Continue Reading White House Calls for Legalization of Some Cell Phone Unlocking