Handset market updates

Under a groundbreaking ruling by the Library of Congress, cell phone users in the U.S. will, for the first time, be legally entitled to unlock the software network locks on their cellular handsets in order to use them with competing carriers.

Inevitably it will also continue to open up the market for those trading in used handsets. According to Fred Von Lohmann, an attorney working for the civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation, 'I am very encouraged by the fact that the Copyright Office is willing to recognize exemptions for archivists, cell phone recyclers and computer security experts."

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, in granting the exemption for handset users, determined that consumers were not able to enjoy full legal use of their handsets due to the software locks that networks have been placing on their handsets.

Providers of prepaid phone services, in particular, have been trying to stop entrepreneurs from buying subsidized handsets to resell at a profit. However up until now, even customers of regular plans generally cannot bring their phones to another carrier, even after their contracts run out. This news can only be good for U.S. consumers, and will inevitably drive the race of competition between networks further than ever before!

Image (c) budgetstockphoto.com

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