Bipartisan bill introduced to re-legalize phone unlocking

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If you’re like us and want the freedom to switch from carrier to carrier in the US, then a few bills introduced recently should please you. The one garnering the most attention was introduced by Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mike Lee (R-UT). The bill is titled the “Wireless Consumer Choice Act”. It’s quite interesting to see both parties agree on something that in our industry is a big deal. If you haven’t kept up, last October the Library of Congress passed a decision to reverse a position they made 6 years ago. This decision made cellphone unlocking through a 3^rd party illegal as of January 26, 2013. This change caused quite an uproar, even spurring people to create a petition and force the White House to take sides and getting the FCC involved. This has turned out to be quite the debacle. There are a couple of other bills that were introduced the same day: one by Ron Wyden (D-OR), called the “Wireless Device Independence Act” and another by Anna Eshoo (D-CA). All three bills have the same noble goal: to allow consumers to carrier unlock their cellphone. Anna is a House Representative, meaning her bill is being pushed through the House, whereas the other two are going through the Senate. This gives it a better chance to reach many ears with a two pronged attack. We’re wondering, though, how such mess was created in the first place. In a country where checks and balances are almost a battle cry for our governing system, why didn’t we think about putting a check on the Library of Congress? Maybe it’s time to remove some of their control over the DMCA? We believe that the wording of the DMCA is too vague. It causes more problems than it solves and ends up reaching into territories where it wasn’t originally meant to be. What do you think? Sound off in the comments! Sources: Scribd (2)