President Barrack Obama will make unlocking of cell phones legal as he vowed to approve a bill allowing users to switch carriers, L. A. Times reported. The bill, otherwise known as "Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act," which was already approved by the Congress and Senate is just now waiting for the President's signature in order to declare the legislation an official law.
The Senate has already approved the bill last week and was passed by the House.
"The bill Congress passed today is another step toward giving ordinary Americans more flexibility and choice so that they can find a cellphone carrier that meets their needs and their budget," Politico.com quoted a statement by President Obama.
A 2013 signed petition of 114,000 Americans urged the Obama to make unlocking of cell phones legal, and although many believe that such move will just expand copyright infringement issues on products, a handful lawmakers supported the measure seeing it as "simple fix that consumers were demanding.
Also, according to CNN, this is not the first time that the cellphone-unlocking issue reached legislation. It is legal to unlock a cellphone to switch to another phone carrier until 2012, when the U.S. Copyright Office declared that doing such is copyright infringement in form, thus the creation of Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Groups of consumer rights advocate celebrated the news. For one, the author of the online petition for the unlocking of cellphones, Sina Khanifar, expressed excitement towards the passage of the bill.
"It took 19 months of activism and advocacy, but we're finally very close to consumers regaining the right to unlock the phones they've legally bought. I'm looking forward to seeing this bill finally become law - it's been a long road against powerful, entrenched interests - but it's great to see citizen advocacy work," Khanifar said in a statement according to CNN.
No information has been disclosed yet as to when President Barack Obama will make unlocking cell phones legal. The bill also touches on matters such as the possibility of legally "unlocking" other electronic devices, such as tablets.
