White House petition aims to overturn ban on unlocked cell phones

If you unlock your cellphone - that is, alter it so that it will work on a network other than that of the carrier from which you purchased it - you could be breaking the law. The rule change comes not from Congress, per se, but by fiat of the Library of Congress, which decided in October to close an exemption in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that had made the practice legal. Now Sina Khanifar, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from San Francisco, is trying to galvanize the backlash with a petition on We The People: "Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal." From the petition:

Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked. We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.