Early Christmas Present: Now it’s legal to unlock your cellphone
Most cell phones in the United States are purchased as part of a service plan. The phone itself is cheap or free, but it must be bought as part of a one-year or two-year service contract. Phones can also be purchased separately, but are often hundreds of dollars more expensive then the phones that come with service plans. This is because phone companies take a loss on the phone up front and hope to make up that loss over the life of the contract in monthy fees.
Nearly all of the phones purchased as part of a service plan (and even some that are purchased separately) are SIM locked to only work with that phone companies’ network. The phone’s software will reject SIM cards from competing phone networks. Phones bought from T-Mobile only work with T-Mobile, phones bought from Cingular only work with Cingular, etc. This way the phone company can be certain that a customer is stuck and they will make back their investment.
The problem is that even when the contract is complete, many phone companies will not unlock the phone or will only unlock it through a complicated or poorly advertised process. This is designed to make it less it appealing for customers to switch services because they will have to purchase new phones, but it also causes headaches for frequent travellers or people who have relocated to a new country. For example, a U.S.-based traveller in China must pay absurdly high international rates to use their U.S. cell phone within China. If the phone was unlocked, they could pick up a new Chinese SIM card for a few dollars and have local phone service at a fraction of the price of international service.
Like all software locks, SIM locking can be broken and often is. However, this is a grey market or black market activity in the U.S. Breaking the SIM locks involves modifying the phone’s internal software. Phone companies leverage copyright circumvention restrictions in the DMCA that make it illegal to sell or use a device that circumvents copyright. In effect, it is not legal for a user to modify their own cellphone even if they own it because it would potentially violate the copyright of the phone’s software.
Yesterday, the Library of Congress announced six new exceptions to DMCA rules. Among those was the declaration that breaking SIM locks will not be considered a DMCA violation starting on Monday:
5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.
This has the potential to legitimize the shady market of cell phone unlockers. It also has the potential to change how cell phone companies do business. If awareness of these rules spreads and legitimate cell phone unlocker services appear, the current cell phone business model might not make as much sense. It is also likely to further frustrate “pay as you go” cell phone providers who have been trying to stop resellers who purchase their phones and then sell them overseas for a profit.
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[…] In what some are calling an “early Christmas present” the US Copyright Office and Library of Congress have issued 6 new exemptions to the DMCA. Below is a list of the exemptions with my thoughts and attempted explanations underneath each one. Note that I am certainly not a lawyer and this is my opinion as a free culture activist and mine alone. 1. Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors. […]
“Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years.”
Well, for three years at least.
if you need infos and / or help all i can say is: http://unlock.it !
there is no such thing as buy and sell overseas for profit because the phones in the US are already the oldest. Only place you could sell to is maybe South America or Africa if there is even a market in Africa.
People have seen this as good news re the iphone but given the way apple is using exclusive distributions it seems unlikely they will release unlocking software or make details of how to do this known. Also, given how apple are trying to lock down the OS from 3rd party applications it will be much harder for 3rd party software to be developed to do this.
And then theres still the ongoing rental fee that needs meeting as per the original contract even if the phone is unlocked and used with a different network.
[…] The Library of Congress (who knew they were in charge of this) issued a new rule in 2006 making it legal to unlock cell phones for the “purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.” Looks like using the iPhone with T-Mobile may not be a problem after all. Why haven’t there been more stories about this?read more | digg story […]
[…] It has Been LEGAL to Unlock Your Cell Phone Since November 2006! Filed under: Uncategorized — recar @ 11:20 am It has Been LEGAL to Unlock Your Cell Phone Since November 2006! The Library of Congress (who knew they were in charge of this) issued a new rule in 2006 making it legal to unlock cell phones for the “purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.” Looks like using the iPhone with T-Mobile may not be a problem after all. Why haven’t there been more stories about this?[mobile] [news] [technology] [industry news] […]
[…] Apparently, we’ve been able to do a little legal hacking, distribute copyrighted material, and circumvent a whole slew of methods designed to “keep us out” for a little while now. And all because of some changes to rules concerning anitcircumvention that the Library of Congress felt it necessary to amend. (Discovered here) […]
[…] The Library of Congress (who knew they were in charge of this) issued a new rule in 2006 making it legal to unlock cell phones for the “purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.” Looks like using the iPhone with T-Mobile may not be a problem after all. Why haven’t there been more stories about this?read more | digg story […]
[…] read more […]
[…] It has Been LEGAL to Unlock Your Cell Phone Since November 2006! It has Been LEGAL to Unlock Your Cell Phone Since November 2006! The Library of Congress (who knew they were in charge of this) issued a new rule in 2006 making it legal to unlock cell phones for the “purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.” Looks like using the iPhone with T-Mobile may not be a problem after all. Why haven’t there been more stories about this?[mobile] [news] [technology] [industry news] […]
[…] read more | digg story […]
[…] Did you know that is legal to unlock your cellphone? Weird that it is allowed since Dec 2006 and no one ever mentioned it….? […]
[…] The Library of Congress (who knew they were in charge of this) issued a new rule in 2006 making it legal to unlock cell phones for the “purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.” Looks like using the iPhone with T-Mobile may not be a problem after all. Why haven’t there been more stories about this?read more | digg story Filed under: Just news — […]
[…] Source: Uninnovate Technorati Tags: cell phone unlocking, cingular, dmca, phone hacking, phone lock, phone unlocking, t mobile unlock Subscribe to Darknet RSS Feed Bookmark this post at: Stored in: Telecomms Hacking, Hardware Hacking, Legal Issues Related Posts: - Some Relaxing on the DMCA Regulations- No Your Car CANNOT get a Bluetooth Virus- Cambodia Bans 3G So The People Can’t Get Porn- Security Boom Post 9/11- Impressive Open Source Intrusion Prevention - HLBR- Logic Bomb Backfires on Hacker Employee | 2 Views | […]
[…] I spent the better part of the last 3 hours scouring the web for a way to unlock the Seimens … Read more […]
Great bit it seems that Apple and AT&T have actually *physically* locked the SIM card inside the iPhone