After Tomorrow, Don't Unlock Your Phone

DMCA Law To Make Unlocking Phones Illegal After January 26th | | TmoNewsTmoNews. Most of you don't care that unlocking cell phones will no longer be exempted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) after tomorrow. However, while the courts will likely be asked to decide whether the Librarian of Congress has interpreted the statute correctly, you need to distinguish between rooting, which is still okay, but may violate your phone warranty. Rooting permits the installation of third party software on the phone. Unlocking permits the user to switch to another carrier. iPhone users who want to switch to TMobile are going to be most affected by this prohibition. Google Android users on Verizon Wireless don't want to change carriers, since they already have the best phone system on the planet, and, in another few months, will have 4G LTE coverage over the entire U.S. I suspect that consumer outrage over cell phone carrier restrictions will work this problem out over the long term. I also doubt that individuals who unlock their own phones will be targeted. However, companies who make a business out of unlocking phones, or who purchase phones for resale, will definitely have problems with this new interpretation.