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Phone unlocking ban could hit you in the wallet

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barney:
"subsidized wireless phone" is the key here.
-PhilB66 (January 29, 2013, 08:06 PM)
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That's not exactly the way it is phrased  :o.  That may be your key, as 'twould be mine own.  But.  If you unlock - with the concomitant if you get caught, of course - you are liable for fine, imprisonment, or both - the old geezer didn't include any fine print escapism.  The subsidized bit is so easy to beat it ain't even funny.

Friend of mine went to Verizon with an unlocked phone he'd bought on the Web.  They gave him a service contract - and locked his phone into the bargain:  no lock, no service.  Oh, yeah ... his contract (he discovered later) was ~twenty (20) percent higher than the norm.   I dunno, maybe he just looked like an easy mark - actually, he is  :P - but that's what happened.  So, now, even though he bought an unlocked phone, if he unlocks it from Verizon, he's guilty by the Librarian's fiat.  Ya can't win, ya can't draw even.  Popular opinion overturn?  Mebbe ...  :-\

TaoPhoenix:
I actually welcome fools like him and decisions like his for two reasons:

First - it's so totally and obviously removed from reality (and the technology underneath) that it brings into question the entire role of government in regulating things like this. Making a 'decision' like this is the perfect "Now I've got you, ya sonavabitch!" opportunity to start people yelling and pushing for change. Once that starts it's only a matter of time before a few elected types read the writing on the wall and break rank with the "paid-for" politicos. Most politicians, being constitutionally gutless and blatantly self-serving, soon cave - and then - the ball starts rolling.

Second: Sweetheart deals need darkness. Once you turn the lights on cockroaches they tend to scurry. So too with legislation and 'executive directives' that depend on public ignorance or indifference to be allowed to continue. So the more ridiculous, unfair and stupid a decision is, the more likely it is to engender public outrage and bring about its reversal.

...
Yup! I looooove it when those in power start to think they can do whatever they want and then make the mistake of pushing it too far...
-40hz (January 28, 2013, 01:09 PM)
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Be careful, they are really really close to us approving all kinds of things we never would have in the 1990's back when we sorta-cared. In this crazed environment the Pol's are pushing absolutely everything because we *might once again care* but we're so close to not-caring right now. And it's WAY harder to *reverse* a law than prevent it from forming, so that's what they're trying now. See what was supposed to be Fun "we don't need to read you Miranda Rights on Misdemeanors".   :o

kyrathaba:
Created a whitehouse.gov acct, signed the petition...

Tinman57:
Created a whitehouse.gov acct, signed the petition...
-kyrathaba (February 02, 2013, 06:33 PM)
--- End quote ---

  Cool beans!   8)  Perhaps if they get enough people to sign, this crap will be resolved.  It's already getting to be a big thing in the news now.

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