Database Users

Updated jailbreak/unlock phone law

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=...inspection.federalregister.gov/2012-26308.pdf

all it says is that in 2013 its legal to root any phone bought b4 that date without carier permission for any reason, after that date you have to ask your carrier, and b4 this law you could only root to change carriers. No one is going to care. If you want to root, your going to root, no one will stop you. Its the same with dvds, no one cares its illegal to rip em. or torrents, no one cares thats its illegal to torrent music. So in the end this doesn't matter.
oh and btw tablets are illegal to root because there is no set definition and they don't want laptops or ereaders using a loophole

When it is legal, no one cares... when it becomes illegal, no one cares until they actually get in trouble for it
Even if it only happens 1% of the time, there will be a carrier that uses the law to the fullest extent possible somewhere, sometime - and the customer(s) at the receiving end will definitely care
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda app-developers app

Actually, it has nothing to do with rooting. It has to do with unlocking your device to take it to an alternate carrier without both carrier's approval.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Zeinzu said:
Actually, it has nothing to do with rooting. It has to do with unlocking your device to take it to an alternate carrier without both carrier's approval.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
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Thank you! Finally someone who can read and understand it. Some lower level phone stores were unlocking phones without carrier permission and this is what this is about. Unlocking means free to use phone on any other carrier and rooting means access to system files and processes...2 different things.

[PETITION] reverse cellphone unlocking ban as of 1/26/13

my fellow xda members, as of 1/26/13 unlocking cellphones in the US will be illegal. its sad to think congress actually passed this ban, but it seems to be the case.. if youd like to read more into what all this means, heres a good link you can read up on.
yeah, theres an actual unlocking section in the general area of xda, but if theres ever been a movement deserving of getting posted everywhere people will see, i cant think of a better cause. a petition has been raised on our governments official website. please sign, share, and spread the word. im sure xda members more than anyone else realize the negative effects, and huge step in the wrong direction this is for openness in not just the android community, but all mobile communities.
petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal

Good thing I'm in the UK, Congress need to reconsider the Anthem of the United States.
"Land of the Free"
"I can't unlock my Phone "

Poor US

TheCraig said:
Good thing I'm in the UK, Congress need to reconsider the Anthem of the United States.
"Land of the Free"
"I can't unlock my Phone "
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Why can't you unlock your phone? Call your provider, pay the fee (usually £15) and wall-ah 1 unlocked S3
Great result against Chelsea btw :laugh:
Sorry. Must learn to read the irony first time around

This isn't quite as bad as it sounds on the surface. Just to clarify, it will still be "legal" to root/jailbreak the phone (which of course is totally different than unlocking). And you will still be able to pay the full unsubsidized price for the phone and legally unlock it, or just buy an unlocked phone from the beginning - for example, I will still be able to use the unlocked Nexus 4 if I choose, and when the Galaxy S4 comes out, I will still be able to purchase the unlocked international version on Amazon (or wherever) and "legally" use it on compatible U.S. carriers. This new change in the law only applies to when you buy the much cheaper carrier-subsidized phone which locks you into a contract. Some carriers even release subsidized unlocked phones (such as the Verizon iPhone 5). Other carriers (e.g. AT&T) will let you unlock the phone when you're out of contract. In reality, unlocking smartphones in the U.S. doesn't buy you much anyway, due to the all the incompatibilities between the carriers. It's not like you can unlock an AT&T LTE phone and expect to use it on Verizon, or vice versa, due to incompatible LTE bands.
That being said, I'm not really in favor of this whole "can't unlock" thing, but just wanted to point out it's not as bad as it initially sounds.

Land of the free? Or land of the do what you are told by corporations?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 11:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 PM ----------
The main issue people have with this is you are now FORCED to pay extortionate international charges. If I want to make an international call I can just throw a sim in for cheap international calls, if I go abroad I can throw another sim in to avoid paying to receive calls.
All reasons to unlock.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Painman1963 said:
Why can't you unlock your phone? Call your provider, pay the fee (usually £15) and wall-ah 1 unlocked S3
Great result against Chelsea btw :laugh:
Sorry. Must learn to read the irony first time around
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Thank you, it was a great game!
I buy unlocked phones anyway but this is kind of stupid to make it illegal.

Over 100,000 Signatures Completed!
Over 100,000 Signatures met! Hope this ban is removed or I will need to close that business
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pe...gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/0...-unlocking-ban-will-get-white-house-response/
-From another small business owner in the US getting screwed by our beloved government but on an unlocked Evo Running Solstice Rom with Samsung Galaxy Tablet Spoof by me

Latest news from US:
Two workers of superstore arrested after unlocking the box of Apples without the license.
The State Court of Louisiana in the sentence sent both for 5x lifetime to jail, stating that such act of piracy should be pursued and punished by the full force of the US Law.
The box itself was confiscated and destroyed because it had the round corner, what was additional violation of the Apple's patent in US.

Welcome to the NWO of Corporate Fascism. Heil The Rothschild's and the Round Table of the Sovereign State of The City of London. Can you guess the other two sovereign states of power? District of Columbia and Vatican City.
I suggest the following movies to get accustomed. Brazil, A Brave New World, 1984, They are Watching, Logans Run and Minority Report.
Pre crime is coming Obama is onto it with big pharm already! They shall probably call it the Sandy gene and put people with it in FEMA camps.
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Disregard.

Unlocking now Illegal

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this but I found it pretty cool that they used a picture of our trusty OG incredible...
http://www.longisland.com/news/01-27-13/unlocking-smarthphones-now-illegal.html
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

RepeatUntilTheEnd said:
I'm not sure if anyone has seen this but I found it pretty cool that they used a picture of our trusty OG incredible...
http://www.longisland.com/news/01-27-13/unlocking-smarthphones-now-illegal.html
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Damn government, always screwing the little guy. Oh well its not like its going to stop people from doing it anyways. I have been seriously thinking of switching my service to straight talk, and this news changes nothing. Tell them to come get me.

RepeatUntilTheEnd said:
I'm not sure if anyone has seen this but I found it pretty cool that they used a picture of our trusty OG incredible...
http://www.longisland.com/news/01-27-13/unlocking-smarthphones-now-illegal.html
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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I don't know why they picked a CDMA phone for the picture when usually only GSM phones are even unlockable for carriers. Technically flashing an inc on straight talk is not unlocking it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

tiny4579 said:
I don't know why they picked a CDMA phone for the picture when usually only GSM phones are even unlockable for carriers. Technically flashing an inc on straight talk is not unlocking it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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None of the articles I've read mention the N4, or how comparable the price is to phones on contract. I guess I can't really talk, since I'm still with big red.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

The Nexus 4 comes unlocked. I guess it's above the law then.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Ah yes, leave it to the government to try to forbid people from messing with the device that they paid for. Well, it's not as if it'll stop anything whatsoever.

This is kind of disturbing if you ask me...
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda app-developers app

One good thing is that the law only applies to phones purchased after the law goes into affect - so anything before that is fine to unlock.
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scals37 said:
This is kind of disturbing if you ask me...
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the gift that keeps on giving to lawyers and corporati.
Incidentally, a few clarifications. I see people making the same wrong assumptions about this ruling again and again.
1.) Unlocking your phone is not illegal. What IS illegal is for you, the end-consumer, to unlock or otherwise edit the firmware/OS installed on the phone from the factory. This means that we, the citizenry of XDA and similar forums, are guilty of violations of the DMCA, because the carriers (Sprint, ATT, VZW, etc) actually hold the copyrights to the firmware's installed on the phone.
1a.) The carriers, however, CAN unlock the phone for you, legally. Most of the carriers have come forward and said that they will still unlock devices so long as you have met your original contract obligations. Now, this is great if you've bought a new device. Unfortunately, it means any Non-pay or otherwise blacklisted phone on Craigslist or ebay is still screwed.
1b.) New, Unlocked devices such as Nexus, Galaxy, and Incredible International are still, and will always remain, legally unlocked. The firmware found on these devices is owned by Google or by the device's original manufacture, and they are unlikely to proactively start locking such devices just to lock out the reseller community.
2.) Any device purchased or unlocked prior to January 26, 2013 can still be legally unlocked and used on any compatible network.
2a.) Carriers won't retroactively kick your device off of their network if it is illegally unlocked. Nor can they impose any special usage fines or taxes of utilizing an unlocked device. A "locked" cellphone is one which has been firmware coded to its own carrier's network.
2b.) The only person or group who can take action against you for illegally unlocking your phone is the Librarian of Congress (who made this ruling and is the conservator of DMCA exception law) or the carrier who originally sold the device to you, as they are the ones holding the copyrights to the firmware. They cannot, generally, tell some other network to not host your device. Obviously they can ASK a competitor not to host your unlocked device, but they can't actually stop them doing so.
2c.) The original vendor of the phone (Sprint, ATT, VZW, etc) can, however, sue you under the DMCA for violating their copyrights. This is identical to lawsuits used to penalize movie and music downloaders. However, since phone unlocks are generally not "shared" in the same way that music, movie, and game downloads are, an aggressive lawsuit by a patent troll or copyright bully holds little potential profit because they'd only be able to claim a single violation, not the sort of perpetual resharing that goes on with torrent users.
3.) While jailbreaking/unlocking/rooting a phone is illegal now, re-romming a phone is still a grey area. IE, completely replacing the firmware on your phone with a homebrew is not illegal in the same way that a simple unlock or jailbreak code is. Since you're not technically changing someone else's copyright protected software so much as simply deleting and replacing it.
3a.) Unfortunately, because most custom roms are still based in one form or another on the factory rom, you MIGHT still be sued unless, as in the case of older devices like the DINC, all original drivers and firmware's have been open-sourced to the community. It's unlikely that HTC would go after someone unlocking an Incredible series phone since you can legally root most HTC devices from their website; but other carriers and manufacturer's may not take the same view in the future.
There is also a division between hardware manufacturer's and carriers. Carriers lobbied long and hard FOR this ruling, because it is in their best interest to keep you chained to them for as long as possible, and a person who just spent several hundred dollars on a device is unlikely to be willing to simply ****can that device at the end of two years in order to move to another carrier and repeat the expensive process with a new device (unless you own an apple product, in which you're already indoctrinated to all of this ). Sell such a device, yes; dispose of it, no. So having a locked device makes you stickier since you'll use it for longer before parting with it, and if you can only use it legally on their network, then you are stuck with them since you can't resell/unlock it to recoup even part of your investment as you can currently by simply unlocking it or having a reseller do it for you.
Device manufacturers, on the other hand, have a vested interest in keeping their units in use as long as possible, regardless of what carrier it is operating on. Having a unit of hardware able to be reused on multiple carriers breeds customer loyalty to the hardware manufacturer in the same way a reliable car or home appliance does, and increasingly people are seeking out devices based not on the name of the carrier but the name of the phone. Already it's a lot less common to ask who a carrier is than what a phone is; particularly when the same device is available on multiple competing networks.
The best we can hope for is that this will all come to a head in 2 years as the first generation of legally locked phones start coming up for resale and people find themselves face with either throwing them away, sticking with their current carrier, or breaking the law.

What I find curious...
In every article and argument I have read; the carriers framed the argument around "Unlocking / Rooting so we can change service providers." If I were a phone carrier, I wouldn't want my customers to be able to leave either. Sounds reasonable on the surface.
However....I think most of us would agree, that the vast majority do NOT unlock and root for the sake of changing carriers. In fact that argument is already very weak and flawed,
With two standards (GSM vs CDMA), some technical differences in phone models that prevent differing networks from connecting with the devices, and only a handful of carriers....you don't have a lot of options...so not much point.
The phone carriers can refuse service to devices they didn't sell and were in no way required to do so, however it would be in their long-term interest.
The steep financial penalty for leaving a carrier before the contract expires easily covers the "subsidy" at the time of purchase.
Basically....rooting just to switch carriers doesn't make sense
What do we unlock/root for?
Control of our devices.
Control of our privacy and data.
"Fixing" the bugs ( ask me about the ASUS Transformer ICS updates...HA!!!)
Excessive bloatware, like three book reading apps on my tablet...(seriously)
Customizing the device to our needs
...the list is long and the consumers don't have a voice in these issues.. Worse yet to my opinion, this legal ruling actually cripples the end user. Without root access the task of managing and monitor apps, permissions, data, etc has more challenges and limitations , especially without any Android "stock" apps for the purpose. I mean, they didn't even make a file manager. I'll spare you all my usual Google rant. Just imagine what the teaming millions of non-tech, non-xda have to live with....when was the last time you had to work with a device without Titanium Backup, Root Explorer and such? (scares me)
Sorry, my point is...they used a bogus argument to get what they wanted, with them in control of our property and data.
Final thought..how long do you think it will take before we see the first "Price gouging/manipulation" lawsuits against the carriers? They price an unlocked phone so high that no one purchases them. I get it, why pay $650 for a phone with no contract, but you pay the same monthly charges.....when you can get one for $50 and two years of contract? Also, for the record, I do believe that the legality of unlocking/rooting only applies to carrier subsidized devices made and purchased after the above date, and not ones sold at full retail, purposefully unlocked. I'm no expert, but just based on the price differences between 3g/4g and WiFi only tablets, you frakkin know the carriers are messing around with pricing.
WOW...sorry for being long-winded and thanks!

Seems the White House agrees that we should be able to unlock our phones.
http://gizmodo.com/5988388/white-house-you-should-be-able-to-unlock-your-phone-if-you-own-it

U.S: Its Illegal to Unlock Smartphones

Hi guys, just saw this news concerning our U.S pals:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/the-most-ridiculous-law-of-2013-so-far-it-is-now-a-crime-to-unlock-your-smartphone/272552/
At least its not unlocking the bootloader that's illegal. You'll just have to be a bit more careful for your next phones dear Americans

There are an simple solution, use non carrier phones.
Galaxy powered by GM and Dorimanx.

Simple....but unlocked phones are sold at 1000%+ mark up to intentionally drive people to the carrier subsidized phones
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app

Price
I wonder what this will do to the orice of unlocked phones on the internet, maybe we can benifit from price drops, what do u guys think?

For a short time I'm sure popular models that are already unlocked will sell at a premium used but since the tech moves so fast it won't be long before phones like the the Nexus 4 and newer cheap(er) pre-unlocked phones drive down that price.
Sent from my Nexus 7

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal/1g9KhZG7
Check this link out to sign the petition and pass it on

lol, like people in America give a crap what the government says. I'm sure we can count on service providers to police the issue though.
I think I'll unlock one of my old crap phones just to make a point. XD, SCREW EM

Illegal to Unlock - Direct Action
Heard about the decision to allow AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, etc. to hold your own cellular device hostage?
Here's a link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-10-26/html/2012-26308.htm
Let's all write Jacqueline C. Charlesworth, Senior Counsel to the Register of Copyrights, Office of the Register of Copyrights, at [email protected] and/or Christopher S. Reed, Senior Advisor for Policy & Special Projects, Office of the Register of Copyrights, email at [email protected]; or call the U.S. Copyright Office by phone at 202-707-8350 just to tell them what we think of this decision.

Good luck Americans, just sharing. Just don't screw up some point in the future lol. Its still kinda new, they might go all Terminator on you guys for reasons yet unknown hahah

This is the same government that gave a company patents for a rectangular black phone and a rectangular white phone so nothing surprises me

isn't this only true for new phones? as in if you already unlocked it, it doesn't matter?

pinyata said:
isn't this only true for new phones? as in if you already unlocked it, it doesn't matter?
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Correct. It only applies to phones purchased after the rule went into effect.

Come on guys move up to Canada it's not THAT cold here!

But being from the southeast, I'd really be confused by all of the 'eh' and references to hockey!
Besides, where would I get my sweet tea and grits? I get up past Tennessee and people look at me funny when I ask for sugar with my iced tea....

Inspiredwire said:
Correct. It only applies to phones purchased after the rule went into effect.
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I may be wrong ( good chance I am) but I believe this is for new phones that are bought discounted for new contract or extension since in a way until that contract is up the carrier owns that phone. Just like you don't own your home until your mortgage is paid off. Not saying I agree with the new law in any way.

If the owner is willing, they're allowed to call up their carrier and ask for the unlock code. As long as the person you buy from doesn't care and has had the phone for a while, there's no problem.

I don't think it's illegal, but you will certainly avoid your warranty.

inarush said:
I don't think it's illegal, but you will certainly avoid your warranty.
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I think so too. Nobody will be punished for that. I guess the police have better things to do.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I've downloaded so much music illegally so idgaf about how illegal it is unlock a phone. Done
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app

severinca said:
I've downloaded so much music illegally so idgaf about how illegal it is unlock a phone. Done
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Not exactly something to brag about...

Big red is really missing out!

I wonder if Verizon really realizes the opportunity they are passing up? There is such a demand for unlocking the bootloader, they could make a fortune charging a small fee to unlock it, AND have all those phones off of their warranties and out of their hair. I wonder whether this is not the first time they've given up a win-win situation?
fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.

Everyone wins here, Verizon gets money for unlocking bootloader, gets rid of unwanted warranties, the dev community grow and thus the phone s lifetime, Motorola looks like a hero, and stops building unwanted dev editions that has to carry on with normal production, charging 20 or 40 for unlocking bootloader fills the gap and its a potential business even after selling the device itself with no effort needed, they are losing potential millons here, and giving the opportunity to some hacker to get rich selling this keys...
Sent from my XT1080 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Einsteindks said:
I wonder if Verizon really realizes the opportunity they are passing up? There is such a demand for unlocking the bootloader, they could make a fortune charging a small fee to unlock it, AND have all those phones off of their warranties and out of their hair. I wonder whether this is not the first time they've given up a win-win situation?
fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.
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Jaocagomez said:
Everyone wins here, Verizon gets money for unlocking bootloader, gets rid of unwanted warranties, the dev community grow and thus the phone s lifetime, Motorola looks like a hero, and stops building unwanted dev editions that has to carry on with normal production, charging 20 or 40 for unlocking bootloader fills the gap and its a potential business even after selling the device itself with no effort needed, they are losing potential millons here, and giving the opportunity to some hacker to get rich selling this keys...
There are 2 holes in both of your reasonings. Verizon has no interest what so ever in extending a devices life span. They want you to upgrade or use Edge so they can keep collecting the subsidy from you which is a lot more then a 1 time fee for unlocking. The other is the warranty part. Yes we all know unlocking/rooting voids your warranty but we also know there are plenty of people who will call in when they are having issues with a rom they just flashed looking for support from Verizon. Even more so when a noob flashes the wrong software or plays around with something they shouldn't and bricks the device. In the end it will lead to more warranty exchanges for big red and probably cause more price increases.
This is why Dev Editions are not offered or supported by the carriers. I'm not saying I agree with their policies but I understand why they are in place. Like many devs have been saying for a while if you want an unlocked device buy a dev model or go to a carrier that offers nexus devices.
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is this not related to the court case about unlocking a phone from a carrier? could it be argued along the same lines?

teerout said:
is this not related to the court case about unlocking a phone from a carrier? could it be argued along the same lines?
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No carrier and boot loader unlocking are totally separate things. There is some legal language from a spectrum sale that says they can't lock boot loaders but there is a tiny loop hole about network security they are exploiting to get away with it
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lafont28 said:
No carrier and boot loader unlocking are totally separate things. There is some legal language from a spectrum sale that says they can't lock boot loaders but there is a tiny loop hole about network security they are exploiting to get away with it
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network security loophole...hmm..that argument doesn't hold water.

teerout said:
network security loophole...hmm..that argument doesn't hold water.
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It most likely wouldn't if someone had the resources to fight them but that is next to impossible. I also think that by having at least 1 dev edition available for use on their network it gives them something to fall back on it it came to that
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I would think Verizon would want as many phones off warranty as possible. It's long been a huge financial drain on them sending phones overnight. As for the new phone update, there's not a huge aftermarket for batteries of phones with non replaceable batteries. When the battery dies, eventually, either the phone must be opened up to replace the battery (if you can find one), or just get a whole new phone. No, I believe Verizon would still profit by unlocking the bootloaders for a fee.
fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.

A Dev edition is available to you.
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@work said:
A Dev edition is available to you.
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Not really - at least for the Maxx. They have been out of stock for weeks, and they're not even listed on the motorola.com menus anymore.
That said, honestly, I don't think Verizon cares one way or the other. The number of people who want to unlock bootloaders is probably a very, very, very small number compared with the total number of phones that they sell. And, of course, my guess is that most people who want to unlock are looking to get tethering on grandfathered unlimited data plans. That's not exactly a goldmine for Verizon right now. I'd think that they want to get people off unlimited, rather than let people on unlimited plans use even more data.