Unlock Cell Phones White House Petition Reaches 100,000 Mark

Culture

An online petition, written by entrepreneur Sina Khanifar, to legalize the practice of unlocking cell phones, reached Thursday the 100,000 signature mark necessary for an official response from the White House.

According to Mashable, unlocking cell phones, a popular practice among world travelers who use unlocked devices to access foreign carriers' networks, became illegal last month after the Librarian of Congress decided the practice would no longer be excluded from DMCA restrictions.

Khanifar, who was himself prosecuted in 2005 for selling phone unlocking software, though later on Motorola dropped charges against him, says in his petition that if the ban on unlocking cell phones continues "consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad" and that it would "reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full." Do you agree?