Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday: Good Law?
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2013/01/25 20:00:00
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Government loves to make laws that make our lives better... or do they just love to make laws that make us feel better? This time, government didn't make a new law, but an un-elected government bureaucrat, the Librarian of Congress (LOC) James H. Billington, removed an exemption from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that makes cellphone unlocking illegal.
Why the change? Critics like unlocktotalk.com suggest, "the big boys in the wireless industry have lobbied the Librarian of Congress to take away your right to unlock your own phone for the purpose of using it with the carrier of your choice." That government acquiesced to Big Business' lobbying efforts.
Note to those confused about Big Business and Politics: Big Business doesn't support capitalism -- they oppose free market competition when they rely on government for laws and protection. Government also contradicts the doctrine of Laissez-faire when it cozies up with business to make favorable laws against the free market.
Wikipedia defines cellphone locking:
Unlocking a cellphone allows the cellphone owner to choose a different carrier, such as moving from AT&T; to Verizon or T-Mobile.
MASHABLE.COM reports:
Why the change? Critics like unlocktotalk.com suggest, "the big boys in the wireless industry have lobbied the Librarian of Congress to take away your right to unlock your own phone for the purpose of using it with the carrier of your choice." That government acquiesced to Big Business' lobbying efforts.
Note to those confused about Big Business and Politics: Big Business doesn't support capitalism -- they oppose free market competition when they rely on government for laws and protection. Government also contradicts the doctrine of Laissez-faire when it cozies up with business to make favorable laws against the free market.
Wikipedia defines cellphone locking:
A SIM lock, simlock, network lock or subsidy lock is a capability built into mobile phones by mobile phone manufacturers. Network providers use this capability to restrict the use of these phones to specific countries and network providers... The reason many network providers SIM lock their phones is that they offer phones at a discount to customers in exchange for a contract to pay for the use of the network for a specified time period, usually between one and three years.
Unlocking a cellphone allows the cellphone owner to choose a different carrier, such as moving from AT&T; to Verizon or T-Mobile.
MASHABLE.COM reports:
Unlocking cellphones will no longer be allowed, starting Jan. 26.
Read More: http://mashable.com/2013/01/23/unlocking-cellphone...
Top Opinion
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FanOreilly 2013/01/24 21:20:19
Why would the cell manufacturer put a lock on them?? Now start going after them to put them on the market NOT carrier specific.
There are 2 different types of people in the world........
The people who know they're not free........
...and the people who THINK they are free.
And the response of the people will be just like every other slap by a bully. Mass capitulation.
When it ultimately gets so bad that a phalanx of government goons shows up at your door to install the government bit in your jaw, don't look any further around for someone to blame than that wimp you see in the mirror.
I am joking.....................but I feel ya.
LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE!
AT&T; was the screamer on this one. She didn't like losing her phones to T-Mobil, and poured money into the pockets of politicians to make it illegal to unlock an AT&T; phone so you could use it on another carrier.
Once again :: The Elite win, and the public lose.
There are hidden taxes and impediments to ‘free trade’ at every turn. The ugly truth is that capitalism-in-practice hates free markets, always seeking to overturn the rules and impose oligopoly if not outright monopoly through barriers to entry, manipulation of the political process, distortion of regulation, predatory pricing, brute force, and the usual slate of anti-trust practices.
Some of these ‘hidden taxes’ are the bonuses on Wall Street which require an increasing percentage of the financial ‘action.’ The credit cards fees and penalties levied by banks to support profits in a contracting economy. The Sales General & Administrative portion of the Income Statements of the pharmaceutical industry which only American consumers seem willing to pay. A health care system which is a monument to overspending, outrageous pricing, and greed.
The notion that “if only government would not regulate markets at all everything would be fine” is a variation of Rousseau’s romantic notion...
There are hidden taxes and impediments to ‘free trade’ at every turn. The ugly truth is that capitalism-in-practice hates free markets, always seeking to overturn the rules and impose oligopoly if not outright monopoly through barriers to entry, manipulation of the political process, distortion of regulation, predatory pricing, brute force, and the usual slate of anti-trust practices.
Some of these ‘hidden taxes’ are the bonuses on Wall Street which require an increasing percentage of the financial ‘action.’ The credit cards fees and penalties levied by banks to support profits in a contracting economy. The Sales General & Administrative portion of the Income Statements of the pharmaceutical industry which only American consumers seem willing to pay. A health care system which is a monument to overspending, outrageous pricing, and greed.
The notion that “if only government would not regulate markets at all everything would be fine” is a variation of Rousseau’s romantic notion of the noble savage which no one believes except those who wish to continue to act like savages, and those who get no closer to the real work of an economy than their textbooks. Economic Darwinism works primarily to the advantage of the sharks. Anyone who believes that ‘no regulations’ works well has never driven on a modern highway at peak periods.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.co...
Stalin actualy copied US model. Communist party acted as corporation