'Unlocking' your cellphone will be illegal starting Saturday

By abecedarian paradoxious
in Back Page News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Praetor

Posted
Posted

In my country even if you buy a carrier locked phone, after the contract is over (like after 24 months for an example) the carrier must unlock the phone. Also some carriers are selling unlocked phones by default, because it's pretty obvious that most of the consumers that buys them aren't gonna change the carrier (at least not in the first months), giving those carriers more sales than the others. So glad i live in the "old continent"...

Grand Master

Scorbing

Posted
Posted

It's going to be illegal to unlock your phone, which is your property and it's paid for? Really?

And who's going to stop people from doing that? The internet police? Really?.....Please.

The government should really find better ways to spend their resources and time. This is ridiculous.

Veteran

abecedarian paradoxious

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It's going to be illegal to unlock your phone, which is your property and it's paid for? Really?

And who's going to stop people from doing that? The internet police? Really?.....Please.

The government should really find better ways to spend their resources and time. This is ridiculous.

If you purchased a 'locked' phone, it is your property, and purchased with the condition that it is locked to the carrier. You agreed to it and are bound by that.

If you purchased an 'unlocked' phone, it is your property.

Now, as I mentioned elsewhere, using a carrier's 'locked', 'contract' based phone is akin to leasing an apartment. With leased property, after the lease period has expired, the property owner has the options of restricting access, converting to monthly (or other period) terms, or transferring ownership, and that itself is determined by the agreed-upon terms of the lease. You will not legally own the apartment (or smartphone) unless the owner agrees. At the expiration of the cellphone carrier's contract, you can request the 'unlock' code and if the carrier gives that to you, then the phone is lawfully yours.

I, personally, do not agree with the practice, but it is this way, legally.

Grand Master

BajiRav

Posted
Posted

^^ I don't agree with the lease part. I will have to look into fine print though (it's been a while).

As per usualy on Neowin, the story is quite misleading.

You will still be able to unlock your phone in the US, you will just need the carriers permission to do so.

Uh...that's still bad though.

Enthusiast

demon_speed

Posted
Posted

So that means that only "out of the box" from the industry allowes already unlocked mobilephones? Btw, there is a loophole to avoid that law, it is to use the Universal SIM that's being sold everywhere to be able to use any network you want out there :). But besides that, isn't it allowed to go see the resellers physical store for support of unlocking the phone and then unbrandning the phone from it's limitations?

Grand Master

BeerFan

Posted
Posted

As per usualy on Neowin, the story is quite misleading.

You will still be able to unlock your phone in the US, you will just need the carriers permission to do so.

Yes, but you see, knowing that fact would require actually reading the source article and using your brain. The vast majority of people here look at the sensational title of the post and respond with a knee-jerk, assume-everything-on-the-internet-is-true kind of reaction.

  • 4 weeks later...
Grand Master

+Anarkii Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Im so glad I brought my phone unlocked from Apple. It gives me freedom of choice and if I travel abroad I can just get a prepaid sim for that country and im good to go. Is jailbreaking illegal? If not, I can see many people continuing to jailbreak and then unlocking their phones. Regardless of make.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Gemini in Google Sheets can now help you debug and fix formula errors

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      Gemini in Google Sheets can now help you debug and fix formula errors by David Uzondu Google has started rolling out an update to Gemini in Google Sheets that allows the AI to diagnose and fix formula errors in one click, as long as your Workspace admin has Gemini for Workspace in Sheets turned on. According to Google, the new feature can handle pretty much everything from basic arithmetic to very complex calculations. This ability to debug formula errors comes about two years after Google introduced basic formula generation with Gemini in Sheets. To create a formula with Gemini in Sheets, you open a spreadsheet on your computer and click Ask Gemini in the top right corner. You can also enter an equals sign in any cell and use a shortcut like Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows and Chrome OS, or Command + Ctrl + G on macOS. Once you open the side panel, you write a natural language prompt using your sheet references. For example, you can ask Gemini to divide goals by games, or to find cell C1 in range D:G. If for some reason, the formula Gemini generated doesn't work, or maybe you wrote the formula yourself, you can troubleshoot the issue directly inside the grid. When a cell shows an error message, you hover over it and click "Fix". This action opens the side panel where Gemini analyzes the data structure and automatically applies the fixes when they are ready. You can cancel the process at any time by clicking stop in the side panel. Image via Google Google has been pushing its Gemini integration in Google Sheets for a while now, steadily moving AI features from side panels directly into user spreadsheets. Last year, the Mountain View giant shipped an =AI() Function in Sheets that allowed users to run translation and text generation directly inside cells instead of using the side panel interface. Earlier this year, the company announced that Gemini in Sheets had reached near-human expert performance, achieving a 70.48% success rate on the SpreadsheetBench dataset.
    • It's about to become harder to turn off your Samsung TV, thanks to Instagram

      By ad47uk · Posted

      I get what you are saying, If i go onto the Instagram site, it says log in with Facebook, but they are not allowed to link my account with Instagram until I do that. Maybe in the U.S, they can link them, but Privacy is not a thing in the U.S. the way things are going,l won;t be any better in the U.K.
    • One of Logitech's best productivity mice is now available for just $79.99

      By TarasBuria · Posted

      One of Logitech's best productivity mice is now available for just $79.99 by Taras Buria The MX Master 3S, formerly Logitech's flagship productivity mouse, is now available at an all-time low price during Prime Day sale. Thanks to the latest discount, you can have this mouse for as little as $79.99. This large-sized mouse has many things to like. From its ergonomic shape to the iconic MagScroll wheel, the MX Master 3S is a great productivity-focused accessory. It has an 8K DPI sensor that tracks on various surfaces, including glass. Its main MagScroll has two modes: ratched and infinite, with the latter capable of scrolling up to 1,000 lines in just a second. Additionally, there is a secondary wheel for horizontal scrolling. The MX Master 3S has plenty of buttons, which can be remapped to gestures, keyboard shortcuts, or other actions in the Options+ app on Windows and macOS. You can connect the mouse to up to three devices (via Bluetooth or the Bolt connector) and switch between them with a dedicated button. You also get a USB Type-A to Type-C cable to recharge the built-in battery, which lasts up to 70 days on a full charge, and a quick one-minute charge gets you three hours of use. Logitech MX Master 3S - $79.99 | 20% off for Prime Members Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • AI is indeed eliminating jobs, and Oracle just proved it

      By leonsk29 · Posted

      Exactly, this is just the beginning. I hope that by that time, our inept politicians devise something like a Universal Basic Income, because unemployment and poverty rates will skyrocket otherwise. And believe me, robots that perform physical work aren't a matter of IF, but WHEN. No career is truly safe from AI/robots, it's just a matter of time.
    • Politically funny images of the World

      By +primortal · Posted

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      timbobit earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      nates earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Almohandis earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      dorf went up a rank
      Rookie
    • First Post
      mike_rumble earned a badge
      First Post

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      477
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      171
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      105
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      88
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      70
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!