Unlock YOUR cell phone and GO TO JAIL

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Its part of the broad reach of the DCMA laws...

[link to www.eff.org (secure)]

I thought the 2nd amendement was supposedly "to protect ourselves from corrupt governments".

Well, that didn't work out too well.

OmG.. Only in Amerika, y'all got owned by a Librarian.?

Thats silly.

If it is free, what do you care what carrier its on?

There was an article recently about this very thing and how the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission thinks it should be allowed for Canadians to be able to unlock your cell phone!


[link to www.cbc.ca]

No, you're only using synonyms for the word "Jew".

Guess you didn't get the memo that weed is totally legal in some states now.

they can only make calls to other liberals.

Well unless the service providers are going to give people a cell phone to use without charging for it, a phone that can be returned to the service provider whenever you choose to terminate your service - then yeah.

At the very least, I think it should be LAW that a service provider be required to unlock the phone at the successful completion of the term contract.

Found.

Library of Congress October Decision:
[link to www.copyright.gov]

The Law:
Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
[link to www.gpo.gov]

"No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."

If you buy your phone outright, you can still use your carrier of choice and also change that carrier in future. If you're locked into a contract where you pay in installments over time (i.e. you don't own it yet) then you can't.

So there you go fellow anti-hype truth seekers.

So now the corporations are making the american laws now?

Although I must say, WTF IS WITH THE FINES? Half a million??? Makes me think something else is coming down the line and this is just setting us up for the "spike" shot (volley ball terms).

The EU rules that consumers can 'Jail Break' from their mobile phone network proividers.
So Perfectly legal here in the non communist free world.

The relevant EU directive essentially says that breaking "technical protection" (i.e. DRM) on software is fine, as long as you're not doing it for the purposes of infringing copyright (i.e. playing pirated games).

But that's Europe. In the UK, we have to ratify all of these EU directives before they become law, so the British lawmakers transposed the EU directive into British law, in the "Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003". That says essentially the same thing -- that it's okay to break these "technical measures" for interoperability reasons, but not for the purposes of infringing copyright.

[link to www.wired.co.uk]

I bet the free obama phones are locked in a month or two the government will show everyone how to hack them in a youtube video then off to jail for everyone.

this also hurts developers, most carriers block "unsigned" apps from being installed or any app that didnt come from googles or i phones store. Also they wont be able to have those video previews before you buy a new phone since it takes an unlocked (rooted) phone to produce them

This is nothing new lol

I just got a new phone today. I would not have if I knew.

video previews for new apps i meant

So how will they know if you jail broke it before the end of Jan 2012, as according to the links?

Ooops meant 2013

then all carriers must by default offer to unlock any cell phone at the end of the intitial contract period.

that should settle this.

This is what happens when you have corporate interests involved in the government. This violates the 8th amendment, and exposes corruption. Whoever signed off on this should to be law should lose their job.

I have a better idea, get rid of your cell phone and really make them crazy. If you didn't have a cell phone then they couldn't monitor your calls, read your text's and find you via GPS. At least make them work a little bit for the profile's the are building on all of us.

In a major disaster, if cellular communications go down people are going to be screwed. I asked that very disaster question of someone who works at a telephone company in the corporate office. They said, "A landline is a life line" and don't forget it.

Been that way for awhile now actually.

Don't understand why people bother reading dystopian novels when they can just open up a newspaper.

an alternate communications "system" would have to be started by the people. the "Mirrors Edge" runners come to mind

This must be a joke. Have you looked at the fines and jail time for unlocking your phone. Here in Holland you get a tenth of that for murder.

I can smell your jew from here