In a press release released yesterday, The White House said that it sides with the 100,000 plus folks that signed a petition asking that they capable of unlock their smartphones. Having the support of The White Home is great, but not we’d like some legislation to back it up.
Sen. Klobuchar announced today that she is currently drafting a bill inside the senate that might carve out an exemption within the DMCA to permit smartphone unlocking. In her statement, she echoes the White House’s sentiment that the power to unlock smartphones is integral to consumer choice:
“Consumers need to be free to pick the telephone and repair that most closely fits their needs and their budgets. i can continue to work to advance commonsense measures to guard consumers and promote competition.”
It seems like Klobuchar’s bill will only exempt smartphones, but we won’t know needless to say until the bill’s text is released. It might be unfortunate if the bill only covered smartphones, however, as there are other electronic devices that might greatly reap the benefits of unlocking exemptions.
Regardless, a targeted bill that exempts smartphones under the DMCA is a good first step for consumer choice. Hopefully the result of unlocking smartphones will speak for itself if the bill passes. Lawmakers may then be more well-off presenting other exemptions that create a professional-consumer environment while protecting the rights of content holders and manufacturers.
[h/t: PC Magazine]
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