New law would permit cellphone unlocking
Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (DPalo Alto) said Wednesday that she plans to introduce a bill that would lift the ban on consumers’ unlocking their cellphones.
“The ban on unlocking cellphones puts consumers in the back seat when it comes to choosing the mobile device and service that best suits them,” Eshoo said in a statement. “Competition and consumer choice are equally fundamental to a vibrant mobile marketplace.”
Eshoo’s comments came two days after the White House said it would support legislation to make cellphone unlocking legal. The White House’s comments came in response to a petition against the ban.
Unlocking cellphones makes it possible for consumers to use their device with a carrier other than the one from which they bought the phone. This is useful for people who take their phone abroad or plan to sell it.
Consumers who bought a phone after Jan. 26 are not salvador.rodriguez@latimes.com able to unlock their device legally without the consent of the carrier that sold it to them. That’s because last year the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress chose not to extend an exemption to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act that had made cellphone unlocking legal. The legislative agency said users had numerous alternatives to unlocking their cellphones, including buying devices that already were unlocked.