No, it isn’t. I actually heard about it first on the evening news last Friday
evening. It is true, and I guess there can be fines and possibly jail time
after multiple repeated occurances.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Christopher-Mark Gilland
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 12:24 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [IDevices] It's Now Illegal to Unlock Your Phone
This is ludicrus! For one thing, it states in this mail that we're
grandfathered in if we already unlocked. Hmm, G, so how do they know if we did
it a year ago, or if we did it just now? And how would they prove it? I'm
sorry, but I'm calling a bullshit on this one. I'm not saying you, as the
sender of this message to the list are wrong, but I wonder if this is actually
a hoax.
Chris Gilland.
Founder of CLG Productions
http://www.clgproductions.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 803-760-7136
Toll-Free: 1-888-405-3185
Mon-Fri 8A.M-5P.M Eastern Standard Time except weekends and holidays.
----- Original Message -----
From: David Tanner
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 1:08 AM
Subject: FW: [IDevices] It's Now Illegal to Unlock Your Phone
From: IDevices [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Trish Zoellers Scott
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 11:27 AM
To: Gateway IOS Devices
Subject: [IDevices] It's Now Illegal to Unlock Your Phone
From
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/now-illegal-unlock-cellphone/story?id=18319
518
By JOANNA STERN
You likely have a cellphone that you bought from a carrier, like AT&T,
Verizon or Sprint, and that phone only works on that carrier's cellular and
data network -- unless you "unlock" it.
That is a software process that allows the phone to work on other carriers
if you put in a new SIM card or want to take the phone to another carrier
for service.
If that sounds complicated to you and like something you wouldn't bother
with, then today's news won't matter to you. But if that's something you've
done before or have thought about doing, then you should know that starting
today it is illegal to unlock a subsidized phone or tablet that's bought
through a U.S. carrier.
Why now? Starting today, the U.S. Copyright Office and Library of Congress
are no longer allowing phone unlocking as an exemption under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
You can read the full docket here but, in short, it is illegal to unlock a
phone from a carrier unless you have that carrier's permission to do so. If
you're wondering what this has to do with copyright, it turns out not much.
"It wasn't a good ruling," Rebecca Jeschke, a digital rights analyst at the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told ABC News. "You should be able to
unlock your phone. This law was meant to combat copyright infringement, not
to prevent people to do what they want to do with the device they bought."
Of course, the carriers prefer the new rule because it ties your phone to
their network. U.S. cellular carriers sell phones at a subsidized or
discounted rate with a contract. You pay the network for service on a
monthly basis and they give you the phone for a cheaper price than it
actually is worth.
When it was legal, people may have unlocked their phone to resell it when
they upgraded to a newer model or to use it with an overseas carrier and
take advantage of local rates when they traveled abroad.
If your phone has already been unlocked, you are grandfathered in and won't
face any legal issues. But what could happen if you unlocked your phone now
that it's illegal?
"Violations of the DMCA [unlocking your phone] may be punished with a civil
suit or, if the violation was done for commercial gain, it may be prosecuted
as a criminal act," Brad Shear, a Washington, D.C.-area attorney and blogger
who is an expert on social media and technology law, told ABC News. "A
carrier may sue for actual damages or for statutory damages."
The worst-case scenario for an individual or civil offense could be as much
as a $2,500 fine. As for those planning to profit off of the act or a
criminal offense -- such as a cellphone reseller -- the fine could be as
high as $500,000 and include prison time.
"I don't see carriers going aggressively after people, but bottom line is
that I would not recommend violating this provision of the law," Shear said.
Jeschke said that the EFF hasn't heard of anybody who faced legal action
during an earlier period when it was illegal to unlock phones in the U.S.
before a prior rule change made it legal several years ago.
In 2015, there will be another rule making over the exemptions and,
according to Jeschke, the question of the legality or illegality of
unlocking a phone will likely be revisited.
"It's unfortunate that the copyright office walked back this exemption to
the DMCA, but the carriers are already shipping unlocked devices like the
iPhone 5, so the impact on average consumers won't be too bad," said Nilay
Patel, a former patent attorney and managing editor of The Verge.
Apple and Verizon offer an unlocked iPhone 5 for $649.00 and the Nexus 4 is
available for $299.99 right from Google and T-Mobile.
Or, if you're really upset with the latest rule change, you can sign a "We
the People" petition on the White House's website that calls for the
Librarian of Congress to "rescind this decision, and failing that, champion
a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal."
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