The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to investigate the recent ban on Cell Phone Unlocking in the US which states that it is illegal to unlock any cell phone in the US that has been purchased after January 26th 2013. The investigation’s main purpose is to analyse if the ban is harmful to economic competitiveness of the system. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said that the “ban raises competition concerns; it raises innovation concerns”.
For six years, the Library of Congress exempted cell phone unlocks from the DMCA, which bans “circumvention” of copy protection schemes. The decision was reversed during the last round of triennial reviews. Following this, a rapid uproar began online voicing against the decision and a petition has been filed on The White House’s website that reached the magic figure of 100,000 thus forcing The White House to answer for the ban on unlocking cell phones.
To support the cause further a Cell Phone Unlocking website recently conducted a campaign (currently taken down since the petition has been completed) that ensures users of a free iPhone unlock (AT&T only) once they sign the petition on The White House’s website. Our team got a chance to personally test this service and achieve positive results.
With the current ban in place any cell phone user who dares to unlock his/her cell phone purchased after January 26th 2013 is liable to legal penalties.