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Article: Unlocking ruling rings in more cellular chaos.
- Article from:
- Network World
- Article date:
- December 7, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Network World, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Daniel Briere
Last month the U.S. Copyright Office put into effect a ruling that allows cell phone users to unlock their phones. Effectively,
this ruling will allow -- if not easily enable -- a user to take any phone from one network to another (compatible) network,
even if the original carrier put software locks in place to prevent this.
The ruling makes consumer advocates and many users happy. No one likes to spend money on a device (even a highly subsidized
one, such as a mobile phone) and then be limited in its use. So from this perspective, the ruling is both welcomed and a bit
surprising, as the vast ...