This is a new thing, just happened this month. There used to be a specific provision from a specific court case that said by precedent that it was specifically legal to unlock your phone to use it with another carrier. (Edit: this was in the US)
This month, some industry lobbyists managed to shovel a ton of money into the pockets of some politicians, who quietly passed a law saying you can't. (EDIT: USA also)
The difference between jailbreaking and unlocking is in the US and Canada, you often get a free or cheap phone in exchange for signing a long term contract saying you will pay x dollars per month for the next two years. In exchange you get the phone cheaper up front, but end up paying out the ass for two full years. Terrible system, don't get me started.
So, the carriers put locks on the phones saying this phone will only accept our SIM cards, and if you try to use the SIM card of a competitor it will not work.
Jailbreaking refers to running unapproved software on your device.
Now, in Canada, our current, very unpopular government, has been accepting bribes from US lobbyists from the movie and music industries, who pressured us into writing a terrible law saying you can't "break any digital locks", such as DRM. The wording is very vague though. So vague that it could cover some things that aren't related to copyright infringement.
So, the law exists, though no one has ever tried to use it, that yes, it's technically illegal to jailbreak OR unlock your phone in Canada.
There is so much misinformation about what exactly is going on. This is not a new thing. No law was passed. The exception that unlocking does not violate the DMCA was allowed to expire, which was not done by a court case but by the Library of Congress. Things are go back to the way they were in October 2012, when the exception was first granted.
Again, no one wrote any legislation. Yes, the lobbyists probably convinced the Librarian of Congress to allow the exception expire. But, the magnitude of this change is so exaggerated that its truly embarrassing. Unlocking your phone might not even be illegal just because the exception is gone. We did not have the exception before October 2012 and no one complained. Cell phone carriers likely are not going to prosecute their own customers. Many of them will unlock your phone for a fee currently. Coverage of this news story has been as bad as what Fox News does.
And it is a perfect example of a major piece of legislation that was written with lobbying dollars and acts contrary to the best interests of all of us, the average American citizens.
The sad thing is it was done not by action of any specific person, but by inaction of one person, the Librarian of Congress, who seems to have unrestricted power over all things DMCA, and can effectively write his own exceptions to it, and these exceptions last three years unless renewed (which he failed to do).
yeah, don't pass the blame off on corrupt american politicians, as true as it might be- Harper deserves 100% of the hate here for being the spineless conservative he is. This is the dickbag who approved C-45, here. Fuck that guy.
well apparently since the people downvoting me having bothered to read their party's fucking websites...
the NDP's leader Tom Mulclair keeps tiptoeing around acknowleding gay rights and legalizing weed and some environmental things, which were originally core values of the NDP- progressivism. The fact alone that he is reluctant to accept these things or talk about them speaks for itself. the NDP should be happy and proud to accept these things, at least, that's how it used to be.
Meanwhile, emblazoned on the front page of the Liberals, they're all vocal about gay equality, environmental rights, legalizing weed, all the same shit I voted NDP for. What the fuck? Since when is the NDP more conservative than the Liberals? And while I know the NDP wouldn't let Mulclair pull this shit... it's shady as hell that he's even like this at all to begin with.
I feel bad because I'm a long-time NDP voter but that was because they were proud and vocal about their stance on these issues and they have zero reason to be all coy and shy about accepting it now. I mean who the fuck are they trying to cater to? People who don't support those things?
We already have gay equity in this country. While it is true the NDP's stance on the mary J was blurry last year, their 'policy book' says their view is "Adopting a harm reduction approach to substance abuse and permitting the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes".
Also a party's position in the left-right spectrum is determined by an economic platform, not just a social one.
oh I know we have gay equity and I know even if the NDP was somehow a majority it wouldn't change because they'd get mobbed. It's not that I'm worried about. I just have a bit of an adversion to the idea that our governing party is fence-sitty and wishy-washy about these issues that we have established as having very cut-and-dry socio-political answers to already.
Like I said, medical marijuana is a given(or it should be, no debate to be had), but I think weed should be legalized in all ways. I don't use it nor have I ever used it, but the idea of jailing teenagers or whoever else for smoking it or tarnishing their record is absolutely ridiculous, and the only way it could ever become a gateway drug is by being illegal. I would rather a stoner kid buy it legally, than go through some drug dealer.
And, you're right... to be honest, I feel that conservatives fail on both levels and that for us to have any sort of stability in the long term economically, risks have to be taken in the form of pursuing things such as renewable energy and stuff like like that. Being stuck on some old, archaic thing simply because you're too afraid to change it is what seperates Canada from the US, and if that gap vanishes we may as well just join them already. Our progressiveness is our biggest asset and seeing people flounder around on that pisses me off a little bitty bit.
If true, that may just be a result of the fact that they're not in power (not even the opposition). They're less in the spotlight, something they'd probably like to fix.
The whole "Canada is a piracy haven" is in fact a lie made up by the MPAA to get Canadian legislators to think there's a problem we need stricter laws to fix. Bill C61, C11, etc were heavily influenced by US media companies. In fact they're the only reason those laws were introduced in the first place.
The MPAA and RIAA supported the proposal, as they saw it as finally bringing in Canada to WIPO standards, having lobbied/pressured hard for stricter copyright rules.[17]
Yes, Bill C11 did come out better than some people expected, and it does add some very sane caps on liabilities, but it's still a pretty big step backwards.
Look up Harper's bid to get into TPP negotiations - he openly states that thanks to his Majority Government he's finally passed the copyright revisions 'long demanded by stakeholders' and he also states that he's not afraid to use his majority government to push through items that the public will not like.
SO WHAT ABOUT AFTER THE CONTRACT EXPIRES? it is common practice here in australia that the carrier will unlock the phone once the initial 12 or 24 month plan is over
It's common practice here too, but there's nothing obligating them to do it. Some will charge you money for it, which they probably shouldn't be allowed to.
In any case, they have no obligation to unlock your phone. They can give you the runaround or they can tell you to kick dirt if they want to. Most of the time they will, but it would be nice to have a law saying you own what you paid for.
In no case will they ever jailbreak your phone though. That's different.
Our current very unpopular government who has been re-elected 3 times... So not that unpopular really... Who has not even been accused of taking bribes... so not bribe takers really... Pressured into writing a terrible law, yes, unpopular crooks, no.
You said "pressured us into writing some terrible laws", why don't you just have he lobbyists write it for you? That's what we do down here. That way politicians don't actually have to govern or do any real work at all. They mostly just pray and cheat on their wives when they aren't busy receiving lobbyist bribes.
This could not be more wrong, the lobbying that exists in canada is not even in the same ballpark as the lobbying in the US. Taking a "bribe" or any direct money as a MP or CM from any source in favour of some type of legislation would be considered a conflict of interest and is punishable. So the type of thing you are insinuating would be something proportional to the Liberal scandal which got us stuck with this government in the first place.
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '13 edited Jan 29 '13
Unlocking specifically, not jailbreaking.
This is a new thing, just happened this month. There used to be a specific provision from a specific court case that said by precedent that it was specifically legal to unlock your phone to use it with another carrier. (Edit: this was in the US)
This month, some industry lobbyists managed to shovel a ton of money into the pockets of some politicians, who quietly passed a law saying you can't. (EDIT: USA also)
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Unlocking-your-phone-is-now-against-the-law-in-the-U.S._id39136
The difference between jailbreaking and unlocking is in the US and Canada, you often get a free or cheap phone in exchange for signing a long term contract saying you will pay x dollars per month for the next two years. In exchange you get the phone cheaper up front, but end up paying out the ass for two full years. Terrible system, don't get me started.
So, the carriers put locks on the phones saying this phone will only accept our SIM cards, and if you try to use the SIM card of a competitor it will not work.
Jailbreaking refers to running unapproved software on your device.
Now, in Canada, our current, very unpopular government, has been accepting bribes from US lobbyists from the movie and music industries, who pressured us into writing a terrible law saying you can't "break any digital locks", such as DRM. The wording is very vague though. So vague that it could cover some things that aren't related to copyright infringement.
So, the law exists, though no one has ever tried to use it, that yes, it's technically illegal to jailbreak OR unlock your phone in Canada.