The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that allows mobile-phone users to legally unlock their devices and use them with other carriers. This raised serious concerns among consumer choice advocates.
The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act H.R. 1123 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, Tuesday with majority votes (295 - 114). Under the new bill, mobile phone users are allowed to unlock their devices and use them on competitors' wireless network. It is still uncertain if the bill will go to the Senate. However, the latest move has upset consumer choice advocates as it explicitly prevents unlocking cell phones for bulk resale purpose.
Unlocking of mobile devices in bulk orders will prevent companies from getting in to the business of reworking phones so they can be used with other carriers and reselling them. This concern resulted in some of the Democrats to withdraw their support from the bill for what they said was a last-minute amendment in the legislation, The Verge reports.
U.S. carriers follow a strict policy of locking mobile devices under their network for a certain period and in return offer subsidized rates for latest mobile phones. Carriers including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular transformed their methods of practice after a voluntary pledge in December to simplify cell-phone unlocking for consumers. The current law strictly prohibits users from unlocking their devices without the permission of the carriers, which could even result in extreme consequences, including jail time.
Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and the author of the new bill, added ban on bulk unlocking after the partisan majority of the House Judiciary Committee approved the bill. The ban is in favor of wireless carriers, but consumer advocates argue over the right to let customers to sell their old devices to third parties so they can be unlocked in bulk.
"The new language specifically excluding bulk unlocking could indicate that the drafters believe that phone unlocking has something to do with copyright law" Public Knowledge in a statement opposing the amended bill. "This is not a position we support. Even if Congress believes that bulk unlocking is a problem, it's clear that it's not a copyright problem, just as individual unlocking is not a copyright problem. A bill designed to scale back overreaching copyright laws should not also endorse an overreach of copyright law."
