By now, you've likely heard of the recent change in DMCA policy that makes the act of unlocking newer cell phones illegal. And even though the EFF clarified some things for us earlier today, it still sounds like we're getting screwed.
In fact, some folks feel so strongly about the new law that they've started a White House petition calling for the Obama administration to either rescind the decision, or create a new bill making unlocking permanently legal...
Last week, we reported that unlocking your cell phone was going to become illegal in the US on January 26th. And it did. While there are some exceptions to the law— you can still unlock pre-2013 phones—it's still devastating for cell phone owners.
And it gets worse. According to a new report, the penalty for breaking this new unlocking law is a fine of up to $500,000, 5 years in jail, or both. That's right, half a million dollars for unlocking your phone. And yes, that includes first-time offenders...
If you're interested in taking matters into your own hands when it comes to unlocking you iPhone, then you may want to act fast, or else potentially be at risk of being labeled a law breaker. According to a report by Tech News Daily: On Saturday, January 26th, a DMCA exemption expires that made unlocking a phone on your own terms fully legal.
In all actuality, the exemption was nullified back on October 26 (read the final ruling here), but due to a 90 day grace period of sorts, the final expiration date takes place this weekend. Obviously, unlocking is a big subject here at iDownloadBlog, so we're interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. Bear in mind that it's not all gloom and doom, though...
Great news for folks in the US who have been waiting for Apple to start selling unlocked versions of its latest handset. As we were expecting, the company has begun selling contract-free, unlocked GSM models of the iPhone 5 tonight in both its retail stores and online...
While Apple offers unlocked iPhone 5s in Canada and other countries, it has yet to give buyers inside the US that option. So unless you go through a third party vendor, you can't get an unlocked iPhone 5 here in the States.
That could be changing in the near future though. Purported prices for unlocked versions of the new handset have been discovered hidden on Apple's US website, which could mean that they're preparing to roll them out...
On July 26, 2010, the Library of Congress ruled that under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), jailbreaking was legal. This was a big deal at the time, as prior to the ruling the legality of jailbreaking was a bit of a mystery.
The decision was part of a list of DMCA exemptions, which unfortunately just expired. So the Library announced a new batch of exemptions today. And although jailbreaking is still legal, it appears there are some significant caveats...
Apple has become the target of a new lawsuit this weekend. iPhone owners Zach Ward and Thomas Buchar filed a putative class action lawsuit against the company on Friday over the handset's software lock.
The two plaintiffs are claiming that Apple violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act by not obtaining customers' permission to have their iPhones locked to AT&T's network...
Great news for folks who have managed to get their hands on an unlocked iPhone 5 and are looking to start up T-Mobile service with the handset. Reports are coming in this weekend that some of the carrier's retail stores have started receiving shipments of iPhone 5-compatible Nano SIM cards...
Last week, we discovered that the Verizon version of the iPhone 5 comes with an unlocked SIM slot. Our very own Jeff confirmed the theory by using his VZW handset to connect to AT&T's GSM network.
While this was obviously great news, we were worried that things wouldn't stay this way because carriers don't generally like unlocked phones. But according to a new report, Verizon may not have a choice...
I can confirm that the Verizon iPhone 5 is indeed GSM unlocked. Even though I bought an iPhone 5 from Verizon under contract, I was able to cut down my AT&T Micro SIM, and use it in my Verizon iPhone 5 to pick up an AT&T signal. By doing so, I was able to hop onto AT&T's HPSA+ network, or "4G" as they so ridiculously name it.
AT&T's so-called 4G speeds are nothing like true LTE speeds, but they are a bit better than typical 3G speeds. But the big news here isn't about speed. The big news here is that we have confirmed that you can use a Verizon iPhone 5 on AT&T or T-Mobile, freely, even if you're a brand new customer under contract.
We're t-minus three hours and counting until the iPhone 5 pre-orders begin, and some new information regarding model availability and pricing has just come to light.
According to several Apple customer service representatives, unlocked models of the iPhone 5 will not be available for tonight's pre-order or even next week's launch...
Last week we reported that AT&T was reportedly starting to unlock iPhones that were still under contract. Though they had been a few reports of this, we hadn't been able to verify the information ourselves.
I decided to take the matter in my own hands and submitted a request to unlock my under-contract iPhone 4S via AT&T's handy online form. I was a bit doubtful because I had previously asked AT&T if they could unlock this device for me, and at the time, they kindly declined, saying that they couldn't because I was still under contract.
A couple days after filling out the request form, I received the following confirmation email from AT&T...