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This lacks vision. Petition to make locking cell phones illegal. This is also misdirected. Legislators make and unmake law. Petition them.
by adamtj 14y ago
This lacks vision. Petition to make locking cell phones illegal.
This is also misdirected. Legislators make and unmake law. Petition them.
- tptacek 14y agoSo, petition to make cell phones cost 2x-3x more up front?
- eli 14y agoI know what you're getting at, but the DMCA and carrier subsidies don't really have much to do with each other. My contract with my carrier has early termination fees and other rules that prevent the carrier from getting screwed. This is true regardless of whether or not its legal to unlock my phone.
- tptacek 14y agoYou can already buy an iPhone unlocked from Apple, can't you? If that's what you want, why wouldn't you just do that?
- icebraining 14y agoWhy are you limiting this to iPhones?
- fnordfnordfnord 14y agoMaybe it makes more economic sense in some cases to purchase the subsidized phone. There are plenty of perfectly reasonable use cases that do no affect the carrier's ability to recoup the subsidy and or have no other practical effect on the contract.
- rbanffy 14y agoNo, but let telcos compete without the lock in. What they are doing with subsidized phones is obfuscating prices. And nothing prevents them from imposing early termination fees.
- tptacek 14y agoThe lock-in is something the telco is selling you. If you don't want it, don't buy it. You can get an unlocked iPhone direct from Apple.
- rbanffy 14y agoI understand that, but by bundling the phone with the plan and making impossible to distinguish what you are paying for the phone and what you are paying to make calls, to effectively compare two offers, or even to purchase the service without the device, they limit competition. This is bad for consumers.
- sinak 14y agoPetitioning every congress member may be less effective - each person would have to write their local representative. We the people at least gets our voice heard if we get enough signatures. The White House definitely has some say in the legislative process, even if they don't get to make the final decisions. Making locking cell phones illegal would be ideal. But keeping the status quo seems much more achievable. And at least I'm trying. If you want to start something to petition congress to make unlocking illegal, I'm 100% behind you.
- adamtj 14y agoSorry if my comment sounded harsh. I actually disagree with my own statement. Cell phone companies ought to be able to lock their phones if they want. And we should be able to unlock the phones that we buy, as the petition argues for. Provided we buy them, that is. Cell phone companies could prevent us from unlocking phones by leasing rather than selling them, if they so choose. We're all adults here and perfectly capable of making our own rules through contracts. The anti-circumvention clauses of the DMCA seem unnecessary to me.
- fnordfnordfnord 14y agoThat's a nice theory. But the reality is that the ignorance and complacency of the average person drives these and other abusive tactics we're treated to in our everyday business and work relationships. Ever read a standard contract for just about anything (employment, cellular service, cable TV, internet access, home mortgage, etc.) Most of the ones I've read, I think "No sane person would sign this." Yet almost everyone does, and it often makes life difficult when you fail to blindly follow along.
- mmanfrin 14y agoThis reeks of useless snark. Yes, we could and should petition to make locking cell phones illegal, but as of this weekend the exemption that allows you to unlock is going away -- this is a much more present problem than high-aiming goals of reform. Also, this is not misdirected, as the exemption is being taken out by a policy change decision of one person. The DMCA is a definite fault, but this specific instance is an example of something that can be ameliorated extralegislatively.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]