Metatron2008You're it Premium Member join:2008-09-02 united state |
Are any cell phone providers going to lobby against this?Of all the things to lobby against, this seems like the most useless thing. |
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if you paid full priceyou should be able to unlock your phone if you paid full price for the phone or finish your contract.and if they dont ask for the phone back after you cancle their service you should be able to unlock it.. |
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me1212 join:2008-11-20 Lees Summit, MO |
to Metatron2008
Re: Are any cell phone providers going to lobby against this?Last time(IIRC) the push was led by apple, not the cell phone providers(though I think some did get on board) so it could go ether way. |
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JasonOD
Anon
2013-Mar-6 9:53 am
Carriers could monetize this...By charging a fee to unlock a phone at the end of a contract period if a customer requests it. |
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IowaCowboyLost in the Supermarket Premium Member join:2010-10-16 Springfield, MA |
Legal challengeI wonder if a legal challenge in court could be used to legalize phone unlocking since a carrier lock may not meet the definition of creative content under the DMCA.
Any lawyers on this forum that could answer that question. |
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Since unlocking is just unchecking a box that keeps you locked to the same carrier and there is no copyright or any software involved the DMCA really doesn't have anything to do with unlocking. I can't see any way they are even involved or how anyone can say it's illegal. |
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TechyDad Premium Member join:2001-07-13 USA |
TechyDad
Premium Member
2013-Mar-6 10:17 am
And given that you are locked into your carrier via a contract (assuming you don't use a Pay-As-You-Go provider, of course), there's no reason not to unlock the phones. The worst case scenario for the carriers is that someone would buy the phone on subsidy and then break their contract to go to a different carrier. In that case, though, they would be charged a high ETF.
Cell phone locking shouldn't be covered under the DMCA because locking isn't meant to be a copyright protection mechanism. It is meant to be a business retention mechanism. (One that isn't needed as per the previous paragraph, but a mechanism intended to keep people at the carrier nonetheless.) |
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SurprizedThis is way more of a response than I expected to that We the People petition. Guess low hanging fruit is a easy win for hated congress. |
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SimbaSevenI Void Warranties join:2003-03-24 Billings, MT |
to JasonOD
Re: Carriers could monetize this...Why? Technically, the phone is yours at the end of the contract period. |
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openbox9 Premium Member join:2004-01-26 71144 |
openbox9
Premium Member
2013-Mar-6 11:26 am
Then unlock your device on your own. |
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to TechyDad
Re: Legal challengeThat may be true, but there are people that want to 'upgrade' their phone mid contract (for whatever reason - no I'm not one of them), and would like to sell/eBay their old phone. Being tied to a single carrier 'just because' is not acceptable. |
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djrobx Premium Member join:2000-05-31 Reno, NV |
to ArizonaSteve
said by ArizonaSteve:Since unlocking is just unchecking a box that keeps you locked to the same carrier and there is no copyright or any software involved the DMCA really doesn't have anything to do with unlocking. I can't see any way they are even involved or how anyone can say it's illegal. On the iPhone, you had to hack the phone, then hack the baseband to get it unlocked. What's worse, AT&T/Apple had no process in place to officially unlock them after you had finished your contract. That didn't come until relatively recently. Legalizing unlocking seems like a bizarre way of solving this problem. Why not just ban the locking of phones? As others have noted, the contract ensures the carrier gets their money anyway. |
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en103
Member
2013-Mar-6 11:59 am
True - and the current 'activation' requires that you activate your phone or pay retail. I could see some people wanting to just resell the devices as 'new' and unlocked. This would water down carriers ability to charge full price. |
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Rekrul join:2007-04-21 Milford, CT |
Rekrul
Member
2013-Mar-6 12:18 pm
...The whole CMCA anti-circumvention clause needs to go. People should be free to modify the things that they buy. |
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yea like the xbox 360 just for opening the xbox will get it perm ban from xbox live |
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IowaCowboyLost in the Supermarket Premium Member join:2010-10-16 Springfield, MA |
to en103
Re: Legal challengesaid by en103:That may be true, but there are people that want to 'upgrade' their phone mid contract (for whatever reason - no I'm not one of them), and would like to sell/eBay their old phone. Being tied to a single carrier 'just because' is not acceptable. When I bought my iPhone 5, I used the Verizon trade in program to get a store credit for my iPhone 4. I think I got about $125 (can't remember the exact amount) but I considered it generous considering the age of the iPhone (upgraded to iPhone 5 in Dec 2012). I did the same when I bought my iPad 3, I used the VZW trade-in program for credit towards my new iPad. |
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to whoyourdaddy
Re: ...or putting in your OWN HDD so you are not paying MS $129.99 for a 320GB HDD |
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SimbaSevenI Void Warranties join:2003-03-24 Billings, MT |
to openbox9
Re: Carriers could monetize this...said by openbox9:Then unlock your device on your own. But that's illegal now.. thanks to the carriers. |
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openbox9 Premium Member join:2004-01-26 71144 |
openbox9
Premium Member
2013-Mar-6 4:31 pm
So what's wrong with carriers charging a fee to unlock the device therefore making it "legal"? I doubt you seriously need to worry about being caught anyway if you can do it yourself. Of course all of this is avoided if you just purchase an unlocked device in the first place |
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txpatriot
Anon
2013-Mar-6 4:45 pm
We should support thisInstead of bickering about what the DMCA should be, or why its broken, or a million other issues, why not get behind one of these bills that will hopefully fix the problem?
Here's a chance to actually do something constructive, but dslr readers would still prefer to bicker about god knows what! |
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SimbaSevenI Void Warranties join:2003-03-24 Billings, MT ·StarLink
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to openbox9
Re: Carriers could monetize this...Ya.. I'm going to buy a new device when my Captivate works perfectly fine all because at&t won't unlock it.
Sure.. I'll buy an unlocked Captivate because at&t is being assholes and won't let me switch to ST even though my out-of-contract one works great. |
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openbox9 Premium Member join:2004-01-26 71144 |
openbox9
Premium Member
2013-Mar-6 5:12 pm
said by SimbaSeven:Ya.. I'm going to buy a new device when my Captivate works perfectly fine all because at&t won't unlock it. Then don't. You can still continue using it. You knew the limitation when you purchased the device. |
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Ubee E31U2V1 (Software) pfSense Netgear WNR3500L
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Lets ignore the big issuesThis is a typical look left go right. The white house and congress only responded to take the debate away from the larger issues like the massive budget that needs to be put under control, and the large amount of government spying on its own citizens in fear of being usurped by an angry public, ect, ect. This is a non-issue, since those that are going to unlock still will, and since the fine is only issued if you get caught, which is highly unlikely, this is a "people pleaser" bill. It makes the people happy, and distracts you from the real issues that need to be dealt with. |
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SimbaSevenI Void Warranties join:2003-03-24 Billings, MT ·StarLink
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to openbox9
Re: Carriers could monetize this...said by openbox9:You knew the limitation when you purchased the device. Same could be said about your computer. You can only use a specific ISP and power company or your computer will not work. How do we check if you're using a certain power company? We look at the signatures within the power signal. If they don't match, it doesn't turn on. If you try to change the power supply, the motherboard will sense this and refuse to turn on. As for a certain ISP, it's hardcoded on your motherboard. When you plug it into your network, it will ping the specific ISP with a certain amount of bits. If the return bits don't match, you're not getting online. |
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openbox9 Premium Member join:2004-01-26 71144 |
openbox9
Premium Member
2013-Mar-6 6:24 pm
said by SimbaSeven:Same could be said about your computer. You can only use a specific ISP and power company or your computer will not work. But my computers aren't restricted in this manner and I knew that when I purchased them. |
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kevinds Premium Member join:2003-05-01 Calgary, AB |
to whoyourdaddy
Re: ...I opened my Xbox year and a half ago, to take two broken consoles into one working one. There is no ban, unless you are caught changing things you know you are not supposed to... |
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Not a chance..the carriers own enough people in the right places to make sure this doesn't happen. |
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KearnstdSpace Elf Premium Member join:2002-01-22 Mullica Hill, NJ |
to JasonOD
Re: Carriers could monetize this...Just ignore the DMCA. Unlocking your phone is like doing 55.1mph in a 55. You wont get caught and nobody will care. |
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