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Why Cellphone Unlocking Could Soon Be Illegal Once Again
- qwerta 12y agoYet another reason to buy phone directly from china. No operator locks, no region locks, no crapware, no boot-loader locks, no root locks....
- scuba7183 12y agoJust hidden spyware...
- qwerta 12y agoSource?
- LeoPanthera 12y agohttp://www.slashgear.com/star-n9500-chinese-smartphone-ships-with-pre-loaded-spyware-17334108/ http://www.slashgear.com/star-n9500-chinese-smartphone-ships...
- qwerta 12y ago> knockoff smartphone available online through various Internet retailers including Amazon.com Does not mention where phone comes from, how many phones they tested, there is no independent confirmation... Anyway my Lenovo comes with application firewall. We are yet to see something like that from other makers :-)
- slowmovintarget 12y agoWho verified the application firewall so that you can know it isn't hiding things from you (failing to report on transmissions to a hidden whitelist, for example)? To your original point, I think it's better to buy an unlocked phone from the start. Subsidized phones will always have more strings attached.
- wvenable 12y agoI don't understand why phone unlocking is covered by the DMCA. It has nothing to do with protecting content. It's also not about breaking the lock as unlocking a phone typically involves using the key.
- slowmovintarget 12y agoSoftware is content. eBooks loaded on the phone with Kindle or iTunes DRM: content. Custom for-pay navigation crapware from carrier: "content". The way the DMCA is written, it doesn't matter what is being "protected", it only matters that there is software that attempts to lock something down. Circumventing it, even if the locked "container" is empty, is illegal. And yes, it is breathtakingly draconian in its anti-consumer stance.
- wvenable 12y agoBut the carrier lock on a phone does not protect any content. It prevents you from moving the phone to another network. It has nothing to do with content at all. There is no copyright involvement in any way.
- slowmovintarget 12y agoWhich is what's so horrible about the law. The carrier lock prevents you from altering or swapping out the code that allows negotiation with other carriers. In this case the "security" is "protecting" code defined as content. Make no mistake, DMCA is not about copyright or redistribution, even if that's what it says on the tin. It is about making it illegal to circumvent DRM, regardless of how or to what it is applied.
- tdicola 12y agoI just bought an unlocked Moto G and couldn't be happier. It's not the latest and greatest specs but it's good enough for most people. The best thing is getting out of the rat race of carrier subsidized phones. Good riddance to $90+/month cell phone bills.
- paulannesley 12y ago> Back when the DMCA was penned, lawmakers had no idea that content—in the form of software and firmware—would find its way into almost every device we own. It was 1997. I'm pretty sure software and firmware was already in almost every device we own. But it's probably true that lawmakers had no idea.