More unnecessary Govt. protection
 

Unlock a phone, go to jail. And some of you think the government isn't chipping away at your rights. I'm looking at buying a small carry semi-automatic and CA has denied me lots of them, in part because they haven't yet "approved them".

But think of the children! We have to protect the children!

it's not Government Hugh, it's the Corporation. Government is just a useful tool for Corps to get what they want when they can't any other way.

the corporations are keeping the state of california from approving certain guns because they, the corporations don't want them sold, is that what you are saying?

Shaun you are of course correct. Its the corporations that have Washington doing their bidding. By legislative fiat its the government doing their wet work "to protect us".

just buy a nexus or a iphone 5 if you are really worried about bringing a old phone over to a new carrier w/out their permission. those are still sold unlocked.

don't the carriers already get their subsidized money back if you unlock and cancel your contract? isn't that what the contract termination fee is all about?

This is directly from the article so in my interpretation, it's not the corporations.

"The carriers, however, last year told the Copyright Office, which every three years reexamines exemptions to the DMCA, that it did not oppose individuals unlocking their phones. Many carriers provide the service today to individuals, and that won’t change."

George Orwell was only off by a couple of decades

This is not a "nanny state" thing. It's a copyright issue. It is not for your protection at all. For the commercial protection of the software developers' intellectual property. Maybe we disagree with it, but don't attribute an erroneous motivation to the decision.

Phone unlocking ban could could hit you in the wallet | PCWorld

Seems more of an antitrust issue(limiting the consumer's options and thereby keeping prices high) than copyright.

Intentional or unintentional, it makes private citizens into criminals for no apparently good reason.

I interpret their reasoning as a copyright issue, as if copyrighted designs can't be resold. What's next, books, music and film recordings?

I agree. Corporations (big business). In this case, telecom companies want to control every aspect of their products, even to the point of getting a govt. agency to interpret and thus condone their desired restrictions, all for their bottom line.

For some, corporations are job creators :rolleyes:. For others, corporations redistribute wealth, from others to themselves.

Sherwood

Wow, I feel that I may have violated Porsche's copyright when I took of the OE exhaust and installed SSi's. --if only the govt was there to protect the world from people like that.

Sounds like you need to practice what you preach.

We need to pass one more law. For every new law past one old law needs to come off of the books. If it takes them a week to pass one but 3 weeks to remove one it's a win win for all. Tar, Feathers needs to make a come back.

You guys think you have it bad?

Come to Aus were the government sees fit to pass the most stupid laws.

Like... You can not install air suspension on your car unless it had an engineering certificate that states the ride height can not be adjusted whilst the car is in motion.
Which means you have to pay an engineer to certify the car... That cost about $1,200 alone :rolleyes:

Also... Flat black cars are illegal in most states. Actually any black car was illegal in NSWs during the 80s and 90s.

In Western Australia you can not change the wheels on a car. Also, no spoilers or body kits of any kind. So the young guys install massive stereos instead.