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The bill by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Patrick Leahy, a Democrat of Vermont, is similar to legislation
passed by the House of Representatives in February and is
expected to have bipartisan support when it reaches the Senate
floor for a vote.
The lawmaking follows a 2012 ruling by the Library of Congress,
the minder of U.S. copyright law, that effectively made phone
unlocking illegal, even after the consumer completed the
contract with its wireless carrier.
U.S. wireless carriers often tether, or "lock," smartphones to
their networks to encourage consumers to renew mobile contracts.
Consumers, for their part, can often buy new devices at a
heavily subsidized price in return for committing to long-term
contracts with a single carrier.
In December, major wireless carriers -- including Verizon
WirelessN>, AT&T Inc, Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US -- struck a
voluntary agreement with the Federal Communications Commission
to make it easier for consumers to unlock their phones after
their contracts expire.
Under current law, someone who unlocks their phone without
permission could face legal ramifications, including jail.
Leahy's bill reinstates the exemption given to mobile phones in
the copyright law before the controversial 2012 ruling by the
Library of Congress and calls on the officials there to
reconsider the issue during its next round of reviews in 2015,
potentially expanding the exemption to tablets and other
devices.
"We appreciate the Judiciary Committee’s effort to strike an
appropriate balance by authorizing unlocking without imposing
obligations on carriers," Jot Carpenter, vice president of
government affairs at the wireless industry group CTIA, said in
a statement on Thursday.
In addition to allowing consumers to unlock devices themselves,
Leahy's bill would allow consumers to authorize someone else to
do it for them.
"Enabling consumers to unlock mobile devices will improve
competition in the wireless market by making it easier to switch
from one carrier to another," Laura Moy, staff attorney at
consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, said in a statement.
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