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White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

petitions.whitehouse.gov

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Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#31

Post by obviouslygreen »

JamesCRR wrote: post #3

As a Brit, I'm pretty stunned by the efficacy of the We The People Platform here. Good work democracy.

Hold that thought. If something actually happens, then I as a citizen of the USA will tentatively join you in your shock and awe. It would almost certainly be the first time something tangible and beneficial came from this.

The experienced cynic in me also says it would probably be the last time, as it would be a clear symbol to our many lobbies that this platform is a serious threat to their continued profit glut.

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#32

Post by rallison »

This is a promising response, although one part is of (possibly unfounded) concern:

"And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network."

This makes it sound like unlocking a phone while you are still on contract would not be excepted.

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#33

Post by Cushman »

kyllo wrote: post #28
brown9-2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What outcome would you have been happier with? The executive branch cannot pass legislation.

It can't pass legislation, but it can issue an executive order. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order However, an exec order for cell phone unlocking would be a tremendous waste of political capital.

And probably illegal, since the LoC was explicitly given this power by Congress.

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#34

Post by obviouslygreen »

GabrielF00 wrote: post #5
HarryHirsch wrote: post #4

What's this fuss about petitions? Last time I checked, the form of government in the US was a republic, that is the offices of government are appointed by and derive their legitimacy from the people as a whole. We as a people should not have to petition the White House to grow sense and pass sensible laws, in the way one petitions a monarch. This is the wrong way of combating the laws that come out of Congress thanks…

Its in the first amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances .

Not sure what you're going for here. The literal definition of "petition" is not what's intended there and having the right to ask nicely doesn't mean the government is required to implement something else that allows this; the primary means is through electing and speaking with officials.

And that doesn't work either.

[edit: As pointed out below, my use of "literal" here is not as intended; by "literal definition" I was attempting to say "relevant definition" in the sense of the mechanism used by the We the People website.]

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#35

Post by ChuckMcM »

JagMicker wrote: post #13

For those TL;DR'ers out there, here's a summary: The White House understands the petition and claims to agree. However, they aren't going to do anything about it other than wait for the "legislature" to address the issue. You might as well petition the corporate owners of the major cell. carriers, as they are probably the only ones who will do anything about this.

So you can do what I just did, write your congressional representative and include a copy of the statement from the Whitehouse. My argument was simply, this is what the people want, the executive branch agrees, its up to you guys to make it happen so please do so. I can only imagine how hard it will be to be re-elected if you were to not support such legislation when it came up in favor of one of your big donors (AT&T). Sincerely, ....

The process is slow, but it is pretty durable. I've got both the petition and the Whitehouse response in my notebook, and we're in an 'off' year but next year we'll put a bunch of new candidates up for congress, this will come out again as a test to see if they did what was demanded or not. So the stage is set assuming we use the tools given us :-)

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#36

Post by dyno12345 »

iy56 wrote: post #21
brown9-2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What outcome would you have been happier with? The executive branch cannot pass legislation.

Refuse to enforce this clause of the DMCA and pardon anyone imprisoned because of it.

Has this actually been enforced against anyone so far?

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#37

Post by brown9-2 »

kyllo wrote: post #28
brown9-2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What outcome would you have been happier with? The executive branch cannot pass legislation.

It can't pass legislation, but it can issue an executive order. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order However, an exec order for cell phone unlocking would be a tremendous waste of political capital.

An executive order would also probably be a waste of time because it is irrelevant; the FCC is an independent agency and not directly overseen by the Executive Branch. The President appoints commissioners but Congress has to approve them and they do not report to him/her.

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#38

Post by SeanLuke »

sneak wrote: post #15
Cushman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he just got off the phone with the White House, I'd imagine he has a pretty good idea of what their response was. Your cynicism is a big part of the reason it's so hard to change things around here.

No it's not. I emigrated from the US after it became clear they weren't going to reinstate the rule of law. Your military-industrial complex is the reason that it's so hard to change things around... there. This is why you have bullshit laws like the DMCA in the first place.

> Your military-industrial complex is the reason that it's so hard to change things around... there.

Wait..., what? The military-industrial complex has something to do with locking cell phones? Are you familiar with the origin of this phrase?

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#39

Post by ynniv »

jvrossb wrote: post #22
sneak wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. I emigrated from the US after it became clear they weren't going to reinstate the rule of law. Your military-industrial complex is the reason that it's so hard to change things around... there. This is why you have bullshit laws like the DMCA in the first place.

Where did you emigrate to?

Neukölln, Berlin, Germany

[https://twitter.com/sneakatdatavibe]

Re: White House Response to “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”

#40

Post by akarpenko »

sinak wrote: post #2

Hey guys, petition starter here. Just wanted to thank anyone who signed for their support. I just got off the phone with the White House and they're really enthusiastic about getting this fixed. We also discussed fixing Section 1201 of the DMCA permanently, and they've agreed to continue the conversation on that. When I originally posted this to HN at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5112020 there were a lot of ve…

Nice petition, but it didn't go far enough. Why should locking phones be legal at all?
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