With a likely new iPhone jailbreak coming this Superbowl Sunday and unlocking phones’ DMCA exemption expiring this weekend, a lot of us don’t know where they stand with regard to the law. If you are in Canada, for example, the government is moving toward passing laws that require carriers to unlock phones and cap early termination fees. Must be nice.
In the ‘Home of the Free’, things got a lot murkier with the expiration of the DMCA exemption last weekend. So, does that mean you can jailbreak? How about carrier unlocking? The Electronic Frontier Foundation says:
So, Jailbreaking is cool. At least for another few years. Enjoy your Superbowl jailbreak.
Carrier unlocking is murky, but it appears that phones bought before last weekend are fair game for unlocking. Go nuts!
But, new phones? It sounds like the risk is on the “unlockers” or the people who do the unlocking.
What’s interesting is a cottage industry has formed around unlocking done by actually getting the carriers to unlock your phone. For instance, friend of the site, ChronicUnlocks is still in operation in the United States, and we’re hearing nothing but good things from readers who’ve bought unlocks. The site says:
It would seem they’ve discovered a way to remotely add phones to the Apple/Carrier databases, which unlocks phones when activated, so nothing on the phone needs to be touched. We’re not sure how legal any of this is, however.
I see many iPhone unlock services on the web. What method do you use to accomplish this? Our method itself is confidential, but we take pride in the fact that instead going the ‘cheap’ route like some of our competitors (such as illegally buying access to hacked cell carrier logins!) which are sketchy and easily traceable (risking re-lock of your phone), our method gets the IMEI of your iPhone into the database of your carrier (as well as Apple) in a legitimate and secure way.
Go read the full post at the EFF. We’re not lawyers. They are.
