Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: President Obama signs cell phone unlocking bill, (Aug 4, 2014)
Organizations Mentioned:Library of Congress | Register of Copyrights
By Thomas Long, J.D.
President Obama on August 1 signed the “Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act” (S. 517), which allows consumers to unlock their mobile phones and take them to other carriers. The bill recently cleared Congress after a compromise was worked out to include language about bulk unlocking in a report accompanying the bill.
The legislation repeals a 2012 Library of Congress (LOC) rulemaking determination, made upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, regarding the circumvention of technological measures controlling access to copyrighted software on wireless telephone handsets (mobile telephones) for the purpose of connecting to different wireless telecommunications networks (a practice commonly referred to as "unlocking" such devices). From 2006 until the LOC’s decision, an exemption to the anti-circumvention provisions of Sec. 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) permitted cell phone users to “unlock” their cell phones when their contract expired, allowing them to change wireless providers.
The statute reestablishes, as a DMCA exemption, a previous LOC rule permitting the use of computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network. The exemption applies when circumvention is initiated solely to connect to such a network, and access to the network is authorized by the network operator. The measure thus permits unlocked phones.
In addition, the measure directs the Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the Register, to determine whether to extend such exemption to include any other category of wireless devices in addition to wireless telephone handsets, such as tablets and other mobile broadband-enabled devices.
“When the wireless industry worked with the FCC on a voluntary agreement to unlock devices when consumers’ contracts have been fulfilled, they took an important step forward,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. “The President’s signature today makes greater consumer choice the law of the land.”
News: ConsumerProtection