A group of US Senators led by Al Franken (Minnesota) have introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow users to legally unlock their smartphone once again. Last October the Library of Congress revered the freedom on users getting their cellphones unlocked from third party services or by themselves, the only way to get their cellphones unlocked was when the service provider does it. This rule came into effect starting January 26th after which there were multiple uproars against the rules including an online petition filed on the White House website which crossed over 100000 signatures forcing the White House and the Obama administration to voice out their opinion.
Al Franken says that it is a common sense rule to allow public to unlock their cellphone once it is out of contract. International flyers like himself will have to face a huge financial burden to either purchase a new cellphone or pay heavy roaming charges to their home network which he feels is unfair. The bipartisan legislation would help consumers to unlock their cellphones without facing any legal hassles by exempting it from the DMCA. The initial purpose and formation of DMCA was done to support Hollywood and movie industry from the clutches of piracy but using a minor clause of exemptions that can be done once in three years the Library of Congress made cellphone unlocking illegal last year.
The Obama administration also raised their voice in support of cellphone unlocking stating similar reasons. The proposed Senate bill would alleviate those issues for consumers. A similar bipartisan bill is also expected to be introduced in the House of Representatives this week. The bill will reinstate the ability to make cellphone unlocking legal also make sure that the copyrights are not violated.