Now that the Obama administration agrees unlocking cellphones should be legal again, legislation is already underway in Congress to change it.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced the “Wireless Device Independence Act of 2013” on Tuesday, a measure that would overturn the Librarian of Congress’ decision not to renew an exemption under the Digital Millennium Copyright that allows unlocking cell phones.
If the bill passes, consumers will be able to unlock their phone only if they bought the device legally, are unlocking it to connect to another wireless network and their carrier has authorized them to do so.
To put it simply, if you bought a cell phone with one carrier and your contract is up, you’re allowed to switch to another carrier as long as the carrier you’re switching to agrees.
In addition, if the bill passes, you would not be penalized for unlocking your cell phone during the brief time it was illegal.
Derek Khanna, who brought national attention to this issue, said Wyden’s bill is a “good step,” but that “it does not actually address the problem.”
“I have confidence that Senator Wyden’s staff will continue to improve the bill — but in its current form it keeps developing, selling, trafficking and discussing the tools and technology of cellphone unlocking still illegal,” Khanna told Red Alert Politics. “Without these tools being legalized, unlocking is still effectively illegal.”
Khanna added that the bill doesn’t allow for special accessibility technologies for the blind and deaf.
“So there is clearly more work to get this bill to where it needs to be,” he said. “There is no legitimate governmental reason for keeping these accessibility technologies illegal — and we cannot continue to deny persons who are deaf and blind technology that can help them because of a law written before modern technology outlawing them by default.”
However, the young conservative said the bill is still in its early stages, and he’s hopeful revisions can fix all of these problems.
After a White House petition to legalize unlocking cell phones reached the necessary 100,000 signatures for the White House to respond last month, the Obama administration announced its support for legalizing unlocking cell phones earlier this week.
This issue has gathered support from both sides of the aisle with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) drafting their own bill to unclock devices.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) have also said they support legalizing the unlocking cell phones.
