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pjp
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Joined: 16 Apr 2002
Posts: 16033
Location: Colorado
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 Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:05 pm Post subject: It now is illegal to unlock your cell phone. |
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I can't wait for car manufacturers to do something similar.
It now is illegal to unlock your cell phone. | Quote: | Why now? Starting today, the U.S. Copyright Office and Library of Congress are no longer allowing phone unlocking as an exemption under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
You can read the full docket here but, in short, it is illegal to unlock a phone from a carrier unless you have that carrier's permission to do so. If you're wondering what this has to do with copyright, it turns out not much. |
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lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.
In Loving Memory
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notageek
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 81
Location: Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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Unlock? No, you're truly breaking the law if you're locking your phone.
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pjp
Administrator
Joined: 16 Apr 2002
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Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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| notageek wrote: | | you're truly breaking the law if you're locking your phone. |
Actually, that is only illegal if you refuse to unlock it for authorities. Our 5th amendment is no longer a protection.
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lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.
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notageek
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 81
Location: Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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Can you still buy unlocked phones (probably from overseas), or is it soon to be illegal too?
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What looks like a cat, flies like a bat, brays like a donkey, and plays like a monkey? |
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Muso
l33t
Joined: 22 Oct 2002
Posts: 655
Location: The Holy city of Honolulu
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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Crony Capitalism.
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If I had a dollar for every time capitalism was blamed for the problems caused by government, I'd be a fat filmmaker with a baseball cap |
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pjp
Administrator
Joined: 16 Apr 2002
Posts: 16033
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| notageek wrote: | | Can you still buy unlocked phones (probably from overseas), or is it soon to be illegal too? |
It is only applicable to subsidized phones, so unlocked phones a still available.
I'm half tempted to get one, unlock it and use CM or something, just to see what they do. Except I'm not willing to pay to be raped for the monthly cost of subsidized data plans.
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lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.
In Loving Memory
1787 - 2008 |
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Dr.Willy
Apprentice
Joined: 15 Jul 2007
Posts: 296
Location: NRW, Germany
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| US Copyright is broken. |
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feliperal
Apprentice
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 168
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| pjp wrote: | | notageek wrote: | | Can you still buy unlocked phones (probably from overseas), or is it soon to be illegal too? |
It is only applicable to subsidized phones, so unlocked phones a still available.
I'm half tempted to get one, unlock it and use CM or something, just to see what they do. Except I'm not willing to pay to be raped for the monthly cost of subsidized data plans. |
I highly doubt they'll prosecute an individual who tries to unlock their phone. Where this applies to is people who post the methods or exploits on how to unlock phones -- XDA comes to mind-- can be shutdown quickly by ICE without due process. This really bothers me. |
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pjp
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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But it still only applies (according to the article) to subsidized phones. So as long as they (XDA, etc.) don't do it to a subsidized phone, they should be OK. The main goal is to prevent you from leaving the carrier subsidizing your phone and taking it elsewhere. Which in the US isn't really all that much of an option (yet... LTE?).
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lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.
In Loving Memory
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likewhoa
l33t
Joined: 04 Oct 2006
Posts: 729
Location: Brooklyn, New York
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| notageek wrote: | | Can you still buy unlocked phones (probably from overseas), or is it soon to be illegal too? |
all google phones are sold unlocked. |
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juniper
l33t
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 756
Location: EU
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| that's messed. LOL USA. |
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wildhorse
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 148
Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Title fail, needs LOL USA tag.  |
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BoneKracker
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:43 am Post subject: |
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It screws up the Big Brother monitoring system if you take a phone from one carrier and use it with another. Something about middleware and message queuing protocols.
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Oldthinkers unbellyfeel INGSOC.
-- Headline of a document on Winston Smith's terminal in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, seen briefly in the background in one scene of the movie rendition of Nineteen Eighty-Four. |
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notageek
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 81
Location: Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| BoneKracker wrote: | | It screws up the Big Brother monitoring system if you take a phone from one carrier and use it with another. Something about middleware and message queuing protocols. |
++
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szczerb
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Joined: 24 Feb 2007
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Location: Poland => Lodz
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:52 am Post subject: |
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Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
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sikpuppy
n00b
Joined: 12 Jun 2012
Posts: 25
Location: Central Coast, NSW
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:15 am Post subject: |
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| szczerb wrote: | Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
It's the pre-paid industry that would benefit most from this since people buy a cheap phone and then want to swap to a cheaper pay as you go provider. The carriers here charge a fee to unlock the phone before a certain period, or before a certain amount of recharge is paid. But unlocking the phone would negate that, is it the same Stateside? |
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szczerb
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Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 1626
Location: Poland => Lodz
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:29 am Post subject: |
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| sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
It's the pre-paid industry that would benefit most from this since people buy a cheap phone and then want to swap to a cheaper pay as you go provider. The carriers here charge a fee to unlock the phone before a certain period, or before a certain amount of recharge is paid. But unlocking the phone would negate that, is it the same Stateside? |
But you are still bound to pay the subsidized plan all the way throu. So why would they care? It's even better for them if you're not using their infrastructure and paying for it? |
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sikpuppy
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Joined: 12 Jun 2012
Posts: 25
Location: Central Coast, NSW
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:34 am Post subject: |
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| szczerb wrote: | | sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
It's the pre-paid industry that would benefit most from this since people buy a cheap phone and then want to swap to a cheaper pay as you go provider. The carriers here charge a fee to unlock the phone before a certain period, or before a certain amount of recharge is paid. But unlocking the phone would negate that, is it the same Stateside? |
But you are still bound to pay the subsidized plan all the way throu. So why would they care? It's even better for them if you're not using their infrastructure and paying for it? |
No plan for pre-paid. That's why it's called pre-paid. Because it's pre-paid. |
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szczerb
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Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 1626
Location: Poland => Lodz
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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| sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | | sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
It's the pre-paid industry that would benefit most from this since people buy a cheap phone and then want to swap to a cheaper pay as you go provider. The carriers here charge a fee to unlock the phone before a certain period, or before a certain amount of recharge is paid. But unlocking the phone would negate that, is it the same Stateside? |
But you are still bound to pay the subsidized plan all the way throu. So why would they care? It's even better for them if you're not using their infrastructure and paying for it? |
No plan for pre-paid. That's why it's called pre-paid. Because it's pre-paid. |
So you can buy subsidized phones in prepaid plans with no obligations?! |
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sikpuppy
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Joined: 12 Jun 2012
Posts: 25
Location: Central Coast, NSW
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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| szczerb wrote: | | sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | | sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
It's the pre-paid industry that would benefit most from this since people buy a cheap phone and then want to swap to a cheaper pay as you go provider. The carriers here charge a fee to unlock the phone before a certain period, or before a certain amount of recharge is paid. But unlocking the phone would negate that, is it the same Stateside? |
But you are still bound to pay the subsidized plan all the way throu. So why would they care? It's even better for them if you're not using their infrastructure and paying for it? |
No plan for pre-paid. That's why it's called pre-paid. Because it's pre-paid. |
So you can buy subsidized phones in prepaid plans with no obligations?! |
No, taxes do not get used to pay for mobile phones in Australia, people have to pay for them out of their wages/salary.
If you mean the cost is partly absorbed by the cost of a plan, then that's not a pre-paid phone. A pre-paid is like a "burner" phone.
Unless you mean employer provided phones? |
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wildhorse
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 148
Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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Isn't it wonderful how the telcos in the USA managed to sell an expensive credit for a smart phone as a subsidized phone deal to the average US American customer?
More LOL USA tags needed. |
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BoneKracker
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Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 1499
Location: U.S.A.
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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You've got issues. 
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Oldthinkers unbellyfeel INGSOC.
-- Headline of a document on Winston Smith's terminal in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, seen briefly in the background in one scene of the movie rendition of Nineteen Eighty-Four. |
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szczerb
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Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 1626
Location: Poland => Lodz
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | | sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | | sikpuppy wrote: | | szczerb wrote: | Interesting. Here, subsidized phones are sold unlocked - for a few years now.
The carrier shouldn't care since anyway you've got to pay throughout the whole 2 years, or whatever the length or the plan. |
It's the pre-paid industry that would benefit most from this since people buy a cheap phone and then want to swap to a cheaper pay as you go provider. The carriers here charge a fee to unlock the phone before a certain period, or before a certain amount of recharge is paid. But unlocking the phone would negate that, is it the same Stateside? |
But you are still bound to pay the subsidized plan all the way throu. So why would they care? It's even better for them if you're not using their infrastructure and paying for it? |
No plan for pre-paid. That's why it's called pre-paid. Because it's pre-paid. |
So you can buy subsidized phones in prepaid plans with no obligations?! |
No, taxes do not get used to pay for mobile phones in Australia, people have to pay for them out of their wages/salary.
If you mean the cost is partly absorbed by the cost of a plan, then that's not a pre-paid phone. A pre-paid is like a "burner" phone.
Unless you mean employer provided phones? |
Then you should revisit your resposnse starting with "No plan for pre-paid. "  |
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sikpuppy
n00b
Joined: 12 Jun 2012
Posts: 25
Location: Central Coast, NSW
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| szczerb wrote: | | Then you should revisit your resposnse starting with "No plan for pre-paid. " |
There isn't a plan. If you think there is then I will agree to disagree since it's not a hard concept to prove since it's self-evident. |
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pjp
Administrator
Joined: 16 Apr 2002
Posts: 16033
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:49 am Post subject: |
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| BoneKracker wrote: | | It screws up the Big Brother monitoring system if you take a phone from one carrier and use it with another. Something about middleware and message queuing protocols. |
I'm assuming you were being funny, but it is carrier agnostic: CALEA. (I'd blame Clinton, but he just happened to be in office when it passed).
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lolgov. 'cause where we're going, you don't have civil liberties.
In Loving Memory
1787 - 2008 |
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