Good news for cell phone owners and users! Some regional and rural wireless providers have shown their interests allowing wireless customers to unlock their smartphones without carrier permission as reported by Bloomberg.
One organization backing up the idea come from the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) who want the U.S. Congress to repeal the Library of Congress' decision which forbids mobile owners from unlocking their mobile devices without permission.
Moreover, an online petition was made to the White House in Washington that gathered more than a 100,000 votes from people to make unlocking of smartphones and tablets legal. Below is the full excerpt of that petition:
"The Librarian of Congress decided in October 2012 that unlocking of cell phones would be removed from the exceptions to the DCMA. As of January 26, consumers will no longer be able to unlock their phones for use on a different network without carrier permission, even after their contract has expired. Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked. We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal."
Meanwhile, in response to the above petition, the White House made a move and endorsed legalizing the unlocking of cell phones and tablets, according to another report. To that effect, R. David Edelman, a senior advisor to the chief technology officer for Internet policy in the White House has said "Consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smartphones. And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network."
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