Law bans unlocking cellphones

Students will now be prohibited from unlocking their cellphones without the carrier’s permission, under a recent change to a federal act.

Unlocking a cellphone, or allowing it to function under other networks, without the carrier’s permission, was legal up until last month, under an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The copyright law was enacted in 1998 and was designed to make it illegal to bypass restrictions on accessing copyrighted material, such as the software on cellphones, said Neil Netanel, a UCLA law professor who specializes in technology law.

For a long time unlocking phones was not covered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because of the lack of copyrightable material on phones, Netanel said. He added, however, that the rise of smartphones has forced carriers to put more protection on their software as well as their other copyrighted material.

Exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act include “rooting” or “jailbreaking” phones, terms used to refer to gaining more control over software resources on cellphones, which will remain legal at least until 2015.

The act is put under review every three years to apply exemptions to the law, he said. Phone unlocking was up for review but was not given an extension.

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, a trade group that represents the wireless telecommunications industry, was one of the main proponents in outlawing phone unlocking, without carrier permission.

“Making it illegal to unlock devices without carrier consent adds another barrier to (large-scale phone trafficking) and may help dry up the demand for stolen phones,” they said in a statement.

Some students, however, said they think there are legitimate reasons for unlocking phones and that they view the recent changes as a violation of their rights as consumers.

Henry Garcia, a first-year chemical engineering student, who has bought an unlocked phone before, said he sees unlocked phones as an opportunity to save money while still getting the options he wants.

“It gave me a way to find the cheapest plan possible, but at the same time still have a smartphone,” he said.

Aden Tang, a first-year economics student and international student from China, said unlocked phones give him an easy way to have the same phone at UCLA and at his home in China.

“As an international student, I need to come back to China for vacation for one or two months at a time,” Teng said. “I need an unlocked phone so I can easily change my SIM card to a Chinese network.”

Getting a phone unlocked from a carrier was a simple and cheap process and happens often to use new U.S. phones in places where they have not been released, Teng added.

If he bought a new phone, Teng said he would not be able to use it both at UCLA and at home simply and affordably.

Many countries tend to sell the phones already unlocked, said Shelly Lu, a second-year business economics student and international student from China.

“Outlawing the (unlocking of phones) is a waste of resources, phones and money,” she said. “In my country, the phone and the service is sold separately.”

Though Garcia said he sees the validity of some of the carriers’ claims, he said he thinks the majority of people who unlock phones do not do it with hostile intentions.

“Generally speaking, most people who unlock phones are like me,” he said. “Either they want to save some cash or have more control of their device. … I think it’s wrong that (carriers) are telling me what to do with my own property.”

Though any person that unlocks a phone without their carrier’s permission can be punished under the new provision, Netanel said the law mainly targets people providing software and devices people can use to unlock their phones, as well as large scale distributors of unlocked phones.

According to the press release by CTIA-The Wireless Association, civil penalties range from $200 to $2,500 fines, while criminal penalties are more severe with fines up to $500,000 and up to five years in prison for the first offense. Each subsequent offense could lead to fines up to $1 million and 10 years in prison.

Email Kevin at ktruong@media.ucla.edu

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