Current Mood: Not too shabby
Current Tunes: Sabaton - Coat of Arms
Recently, James Hadley Billington, a congressional librarian, declared that unlocking cell phones in order to be used by different carriers is illegal. This has angered some people because they feel that they completely own their phones and can do whatsoever they want with them. The real issue is who owns what on a cell phone. According to Billington, the firmware on the phone is property of the company that created it, and, therefore, unlocking the phone via changing the firmware is violation of copyright. The answer to "Who owns what?" on a phone is simple: it works much the same as a computer and its software. A person may own their computer, but when they purchase software, they agree to a end-user license agreement. When a person buys a phone, they agree to use the phone according to the carrier's dictates. A carrier can put whatever they want in their agreement including a clause that the firmware cannot be changed. If a customer agrees to it, he or she must adhere to the agreement.
Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026236/phone-unlocking-ban-could-could-hit-you-in-the-wallet.html
This whole unlocking phones being illegal business is just another cog in the broken machine that is the "Carrier-subscriber" cell phone model we have going on here in the US. So much needs to be changed about this system.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I always thought it was just total crap that the carrier didn't want people to unlock the phone, but I see how "changing the firmware" is something that the carrier has some right to control. Now, whether or not they should control it is a different matter.
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