For people living in the United States, it recently became illegal to unlock a mobile device, much to many individuals bemusement. So many in fact, it’s hard not to wonder whether the right decision was made.
Our opinion on the matter should be clear, however, would you believe our stance more if you heard the White House also agreed that unlocking cell phones should be legal? Well, that’s exactly what’s happened today. You don’t have to take my word for it, though; there is also an official press statement made from the White House:
“The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones.”
The United States are not strangers to changing their minds and sometimes having unusual laws for certain periods of time when it comes to technology. Partially because of the technology companies always doing their bit to try and protect their assets as much as they can, even when it is inadvertently and ethically wrong in doing so. This has seemed like a classic case of what I just mentioned, especially now even the White House has said it’s piece on the matter. Even going so far as to say the current law should also exclude tablets.