• White House Petition to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking Gets 100K Signatures

    by
    Michael Essany
    Published on 2013-02-23 04:23 AM
    24 Comments Comments


    It looks like the White House petition drafted to reverse the questionable policy change that outlaws unlocking newer cell phones has been a success. The policy isn't reversed yet, but the securing of 100,000 signatures mandates a look - and a response - from the White House.

    As MMi has covered in great detail this year, the controversy in question began when the Register of Copyrights at the Library of Congress determined that unlocking mobile phones would no longer be permissible. A 90-day window, which was established for people to still buy a phone and unlock it, closed at the end of January.

    As of now, it is against the law for certain mobile phone owners to unlock their devices for use on other carriers. Understandably, many consumers were not happy with the new policy and a White House petition was drafted in hopes of undoing the policy change.

    100,000 signatures were required by the February 23rd deadline. As of 11:00 pm EST on February 22nd, the petition has 109,316 signatures.

    Source: WhiteHouse.gov
    This article was originally published in forum thread: White House Petition to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking Gets 100K Signatures started by Michael Essany View original post
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    Comments 24 Comments
    1. jwil736's Avatar
      jwil736 - 2013-02-23, 04:28 AM
      Awesome!
    1. Zokunei's Avatar
      Zokunei - 2013-02-23, 04:42 AM
      Shouldn't ModMyi have been promoting this?
    1. plumoso's Avatar
      plumoso - 2013-02-23, 04:43 AM
      Nice
    1. Anthony Bouchard's Avatar
      Anthony Bouchard - 2013-02-23, 04:56 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Zokunei View Post
      Shouldn't ModMyi have been promoting this?
      We did

      We Tweeted it more than once and we published an article here:

      White House Petition to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking Gains Steam
    1. zplit's Avatar
      zplit - 2013-02-23, 05:26 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Zokunei View Post
      Shouldn't ModMyi have been promoting this?
      They did thanks to MMI I got my name on the list.
    1. Raybeast's Avatar
      Raybeast - 2013-02-23, 06:34 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Zokunei View Post
      Shouldn't ModMyi have been promoting this?
      Anthony did a bunch! He tweeted the progress.
    1. Zokunei's Avatar
      Zokunei - 2013-02-23, 06:59 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by zplit View Post
      They did thanks to MMI I got my name on the list.
      I did too thanks to n00neimp0rtant's tweet.
    1. iRevival's Avatar
      iRevival - 2013-02-23, 07:15 AM
      TBH, and I'll probably get flamed for this, but what is the big deal here? To me this is going to bring on the end of subsidized phones. We'll all be paying $650-$850 for our new iPhones once this passes in my mind. If you are paying to be locked into a 2 year contract, why not accept the fact that you should only be able to use the phone on that carrier? Do I unlock my phones? Yes. I even offer it as a service to my customers. But is it unreasonable for carriers to want to give you a reason to stay with them for 2 years. No. This issue is far too broad.
    1. 2k1's Avatar
      2k1 - 2013-02-23, 07:57 AM
      Agree followed and signed myself
    1. csglinux's Avatar
      csglinux - 2013-02-23, 11:39 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by iRevival View Post
      TBH, and I'll probably get flamed for this, but what is the big deal here? To me this is going to bring on the end of subsidized phones. We'll all be paying $650-$850 for our new iPhones once this passes in my mind. If you are paying to be locked into a 2 year contract, why not accept the fact that you should only be able to use the phone on that carrier? Do I unlock my phones? Yes. I even offer it as a service to my customers. But is it unreasonable for carriers to want to give you a reason to stay with them for 2 years. No. This issue is far too broad.
      Come on folks. This argument has been beaten to death 10^6 times.
      Unlocking a phone does not get you out of a two-year contract or exempt you from early-termination fees.

      Many thanks to ModMyI for highlighting and following-up with this one.
    1. Roadw3's Avatar
      Roadw3 - 2013-02-23, 12:57 PM
      Just because I unlock my phone does not mean I'm going to jump ship from my carrier. If I travel abroad I shouldn't have to pay 5 bucks a minute to use my phone when I can buy a local sim and use my phone there.
    1. Biggie_S2k's Avatar
      Biggie_S2k - 2013-02-23, 01:37 PM
      I travel abroad frequently and $5+ a min kind of hurts the pockets after a while. That's one of the main reason why people unlock phones. US carriers are already getting too much $$$ from the customers. They want to get even more by locking the phones and have you pay more $$$ to use it abroad on their international plans. I signed the petition and hope it gets approved.
    1. vtails's Avatar
      vtails - 2013-02-23, 03:33 PM
      The only reason this didn't get more sig's is filling out all the paper work, They don't make it easy,If you've watched the NEWS lately it show's what IDIOT'S WE ELECT to run our USA
    1. Zokunei's Avatar
      Zokunei - 2013-02-23, 05:26 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by vtails View Post
      The only reason this didn't get more sig's is filling out all the paper work, They don't make it easy,If you've watched the NEWS lately it show's what IDIOT'S WE ELECT to run our USA
      Signing this petition was one of the easiest things I've ever done.
    1. gedi223's Avatar
      gedi223 - 2013-02-23, 05:28 PM
      Swiftunlocks was running a promotion where you could sign the petition and get a free att iphone unlock. Got several family members to sign and ended up with 10 free unlocks from iphone 4s to 5. Just did the last one today with an itunes restore.
    1. Lohand's Avatar
      Lohand - 2013-02-23, 07:23 PM
      Wait, why not just buy an unlocked phone? Doesn't manufacturers like Apple sell unlocked phones?
    1. Anthony Bouchard's Avatar
      Anthony Bouchard - 2013-02-23, 07:31 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Lohand View Post
      Wait, why not just buy an unlocked phone? Doesn't manufacturers like Apple sell unlocked phones?
      That's an option, but costs hundreds of dollars more for the buyer in the long run.
    1. Feanor64's Avatar
      Feanor64 - 2013-02-23, 08:58 PM
      if u wanted an unlocked phone u shouldve bought an unlocked phone these sell as little as 25 bucks they may not be an iphone but they will allow u to talk in other countries or whatever im sorry but when u signed a two year contract u knew what u were getting into and if u didnt know then thats your fault for not researching it the real solultion is for people to boycott att or whatever carrier and let them know that they will be terminating service if they cant use other sims if they seen that kinda response and it hurt the bottom line u would see a change so fast it would make ure head spin the registar of copyrights didnt just wake up and do this u can bet they were under pressure from cell phone companies to do it
    1. rockyseay's Avatar
      rockyseay - 2013-02-23, 10:39 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Feanor64 View Post
      if u wanted an unlocked phone u shouldve bought an unlocked phone these sell as little as 25 bucks they may not be an iphone but they will allow u to talk in other countries or whatever im sorry but when u signed a two year contract u knew what u were getting into and if u didnt know then thats your fault for not researching it the real solultion is for people to boycott att or whatever carrier and let them know that they will be terminating service if they cant use other sims if they seen that kinda response and it hurt the bottom line u would see a change so fast it would make ure head spin the registar of copyrights didnt just wake up and do this u can bet they were under pressure from cell phone companies to do it
      What part of this does nothing to get you out of early termination fees do you not understand. This is only made to push higher profits for these carriers and nothing more. The argument you are making has been debunked so many times.
    1. Eonhpi's Avatar
      Eonhpi - 2013-02-24, 03:00 AM
      I signed that
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