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US Government May Not Be Able To Fix Cell Phone Unlocking Problem
An anonymous reader writes "We recently discussed what appeared to be a positive response from the Obama administration on the legality of cell phone unlocking. Unfortunately, the Obama administration may not be able to do anything about it. It has already signed away our rights under a trade agreement with South Korea. Lawyer Jonathan Band, who works for the Association of Research Libraries, wrote, 'The White House position, however, may be inconsistent with the U.S. proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and existing obligations in the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) and other free trade agreements to which the United States is a party. This demonstrates the danger of including in international agreements rigid provisions that do not accommodate technological development.'You can read more about this issue in a short eight page legal primer by Jonathan Band (PDF). An interesting, related note that the U.S.-KOREA FTA is possibly inconsistent with our domestic patent/drug law in the Hatch-Waxman Act as well. The trade agreement requires us to grant injunctions until the patent is invalidated as opposed to thirty months under current domestic law."
I really don't see why phones are locked in the first place. You're already tied to the carrier with a legal contract. There shouldn't need to be a technical measure in place to make sure you don't take the phone to a different carrier. If you try to leave before the contract is over, there's already high fees for breaking the contract. If you choose to not pay those fees, it would probably look bad on your credit rating. After your contract term ends, you should be free to do whatever you want with the phone. Actually, If they now have the system in place to block stolen phones, the major providers could probably place the phones from non-paid contracts on a list where they would refuse to allow the phone be used until the contract is paid in full.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Invade another country? "No problem. We'll just have to change the rules."
Make it legal ( again ) to unlock phones? "We want to do it but our hands are tied."
Of course it is bullshit!
They are not doing it because their corporate owners don't want them to. They just want to make it seem like they are on our side. If they are, then who is this mystical other side that makes this impossible. This is bullshit.
It is the carriers which are responsible for the locking. The suppliers don't give a rat's tail about whether a phone is locked or not. The carriers make the requests and the suppliers deliver on that request. Suppliers have no dog in the fight over locked vs. unlocked beyond the mild fact that a locked phone will likely stay in the region in which it was procured. But people who relocate and wish to take their phones with them are an insignificant minority.
I get the feeling this is a blame and information deflecting piece intended to point people in directions which are not relevant.
That is a perfectly pragmatic viewpoint, and I would take it as well, if the world were sane. Actually, it doesn't only take stupid or crazy people to mess up a system like you describe, it just takes well-meaning people with messed up priorities.
There are already more laws than anybody could ever know about. We are already at the point where it is easy to be breaking multiple laws without knowing it. The police, even good police, like having this situation because it lets them arrest anyone they want at any time, if they can just figure out one of the many laws they are breaking, even if it is a stupid one. Of course they like this situation because it makes their jobs easier, and they think that their "gut feelings" are 100% correct 100% of the time.
Do you really want to live in that kind of world? Well, whatever your answer, you already do. But do you want to make it worse?
This is the most worrisome part of the story:
The draft text for TPP is secret, but the U.S. proposal for the IP chapter was leaked two years ago. The leaked proposal contained KORUS's closed list of exceptions.
How can the US sign a treaty that is secret from the citizens of the US? The government shouldn't be allowed to sign (or even consider) a trade treaty with secret terms. How else can the people know if they want to be party to the treaty?
Because, fuck you, that's why.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Your naivete shows.
Silly traffic laws are enforced when it suits the police to enforce the laws. Haven't you watched "Law and Order" where laws are stretched to fit people ADA Jack McCoy wants to persecute? Police do this also and use the silliest of laws to facilitate their harassment.. Every regulatory entity does this. To think that they don't is quite pollyana-ish.
No need to be AL. The TPP is being forced down many countries throats despite many anti-democratic problems by, you guessed it, US special interest groups, their lobby mouthpieces and owned politicians. The US elite feigned "positive response" to our concern over cell phone unlocking only due to the enormous amount of people who cried out - to many to just ignore this time round. Now they are using the TPP stick that they crafted to beat our demand for democratic review of the law down, and put the masses back in our place. Oh, but sure they had no choice... yeah, right.
I like this idea. You can't make it legal to unlock phones, but you can probably make it illegal to sell locked phones in the first place. I already stated elsewhere in these comments that it's unnecessary to lock phones in the first place since there's already a contract with fees for breaking it, and the have the technological capability to blacklist phones that are still under a contract.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Having "unenforced" laws on the books that everyone breaks is dangerous because it allows police to selectively enforce those laws when they need to punish a specific individual or group (cracking down on homeless people for loitering for example, or the overly broad "computer hacking" law which was used to go after Arron Swartz).
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
What happened is the US government found a good excuse for saying one thing and doing another to make it appear like it was on your side without that actually being so.
Welcome to politics.
Congress can fix this problem. Congress just doesn't want to fix this problem. See the difference?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?