Bill Proposes Canadian Cellphone Unlocking Rights

SJrX sends in a CBC report that the Canadian New Democratic Party has tabled a bill requiring all cellphone companies to provide unlocked cellphones. (Wikipedia notes, "The party is regarded as falling on the left in the Canadian political spectrum.") This reader adds, "The fact that there is a minority government currently should help this bill's chances of getting passed." "The bill proposes three rules: cellphone carriers would be required to notify customers at the point of purchase whether a phone is locked to work only on their network; they would have to remove such a lock free of charge at any point after the conclusion of the customer's service contract; and they would have to remove it if the customer does not enter into a contract within six months of buying the device up front."

Comments

Unless C-32 goes through

[al3]

"Sure you're free to take this phone to another carrier, just don't circumvent the DRM to do it"

Oh Canada

[elrous0]

Between laws like this, universal healthcare, low crime, etc. I'm considering hiring a coyote to smuggle me and my family across the border. All of the advantages of modern America without all the ultra-right-wing bullshit and wars. I'd pay higher taxes and put up with more snow for that.

Re:Oh Canada

[Genwil]

And our taxes aren't even all that much higher when you add up all your state and local taxes. Plus a study has shown that citizens earning up to $85k/yr get back services worth more than that. We also live longer and do better in almost any social stat you can think of. But not to sound smug: we are far from perfect, and 30% of us seem hell-bent on voting for a party determined to be as Republican as they can.

Re:Oh Canada

[plalonde2]

So you also clearly don't keep health insurance for your family, don't benefit from (in no particular order) police services, fire departments, curb-side trash removal, winter snow removal, labor regulation, environmental regulation, judicial services, etc.

Why are so many people willfully ignorant of what services modern governments pay for from their taxes?

Re:Oh Canada

[dkleinsc]

Sure it does.

- You probably eat at least 1000 meals or so over the course of the year (that's a little less than 3 meals a day). A reasonable guess would be about 5% of those meals would be dangerous to eat, and would result in an average medical bill or last pay of $250 (most would be less than that, a few would be a lot more than that), for a total cost of $12,500.
- Let's say you drive a vehicle that gets 25 mpg, and drive 10,000 miles per year, and are thus purchasing 400 gallons of fuel for a cost of $1000 (that's about $2.50 per gallon). However, the gas station owner bilks you because there's no inspection, so you end up actually paying $1500, so the government inspection just saved you $500.
- For banking, let's say you had a 15% chance of having deposits of $30,000 in one of the banks that failed. That gives you an average loss of $4500.
- For securities, let's go with about a 11% chance that you lose your investment to a con man without regulation, and a 1% chance that you'd lose your investment to Bernie Madoff under regulation. If you invest, say, $40,000, your government just saved you on average $4000.

I'm already above $20K, and not even through the list.

Re:Oh Canada

[mandelbr0t]

All of the advantages of modern America without all the ultra-right-wing bullshit and wars.

Not really. I have become increasingly distressed at the direction Canadian politics have headed. The only thing saving the politicians from selling Canada to the United States wholesale is this minority government. The problem with this is that it paralyzes the government, and generally lets things be run by big business, which is precisely what is wrong with the United States.