Senate passes phone unlocking bill

Cory Doctorow 10:54 am Wed Jul 16, 2014

The Senate has approved a bill (which already passed in the House) that makes it legal for you to unlock the phones you own so you can choose which carrier you use.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously, and left out the terrible "bulk unlocking" rules that would have made it hard to found businesses that helped
people unlock their phone, a common practice in the rest of the world. The bills now have to be synched up and sent to the president for his signature.

This is one of a very small number of bills passed by Congress this year. Kudos to Derek Khanna and all the other activists who campaigned for this.

Senate passes cell phone unlocking bill without opposition [Joe Mullin/Ars Technica]

(Image: Squircle Lock Picking, Darrell Hamilton, CC-BY)

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