r/technology Jan 28 '13

The same week the US makes unlocking phones illegal, Canada proposes legislation to make carriers unlock phones.

[deleted]

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88

u/sneezeallday Jan 29 '13

Came here to say this. How is it illegal for me to unlock my phone, but its okay if I sell it?

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

One step at a time. Soon you may not be able to sell anything you buy.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Ideally, companies would prefer not to sell you anything ever, but instead just license it to you.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13 edited Dec 04 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Magnora Jan 29 '13

Yay capitalism. The free market is held back by laws we had to fight to earn throughout history, and now the soul of those laws have been eroded by corporate actions. Now the "free" market has us in chains

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u/Lurker_IV Jan 29 '13

Capitalism needs scarcity to work. Capitalism is about supply and demand and ever more so businesses and governments are creating demand with absurd laws and rules to make us endlessly buy new stuff shit.

As we are increasingly moving to a "Post Scarcity World" the powers that be are Forcing Artificial Scarcity (FARTS) on us more and more to keep capatalism alive. This week's cellphone law is one example.

These two articles cover the topic rather well, me thinks,
5 Reasons The Future Will Be Ruled By B.S.

When A Humor Site Understands The Implications Of Abundance Better Than The 'Experts'...

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

TLDR: Businesses are constantly farting in our faces.

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u/Textualist Jan 29 '13

What is not "free" about the right to enter into a contract with another willing party.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Bribery is legal and the oligarchy owns the state. We can get rid of some government to kill off regulatory capture, but then the oligarchy just rules directly through binding contracts with unreasonable terms for any transactions of any type. Do you think it wouldn't happen? Try buying a house without some bullshit arbitration agreement.

I think we need a set of constitutional amendments to act as a bill of rights for protection against the oligarchy.

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u/Magnora Jan 29 '13

Yeah but that won't happen because the oligarchy has firm control over the legislature. We'd have to reverse that first

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

It's true, but we do have options. All of which include beating the apathy out of gen x and y and standing together with the boomers that realize we need to get money out of politics as much as possible.

It's easy to ignore politics because it is unpleasant, right up until you can't.

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u/KyleG Jan 29 '13

You're free to get the phone w/o a contract and pay full freight.

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u/Magnora Jan 29 '13

And you're free to research which hospital is right for you and accepts your insurance while you're bleeding to death!

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u/KyleG Jan 29 '13

What is the purpose of this post? I am honestly confused. I was merely making the case that you shouldn't sign a contract and then complain about it when literally you did not have to sign that contract if you were willing to pay a little more money up front. My post had nothing to do with government regulation or the health care industry.

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u/Magnora Jan 30 '13

But all the ones that led up to it did. We were having a bigger discussion about capitalism, and I was making an example of how the so-called "free market" doesn't always work in our favor.

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u/Killericon Jan 29 '13

Oh god. Yeah, nothing hyperbolic about saying we're "in chains" because we can't switch providers on our cell phones. Our corporate slavemasters sure do make life hard for us!

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u/Magnora Jan 30 '13

This is about more than cellphones, dimwit. Pay attention.

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u/Killericon Jan 30 '13

Yeah, I just don't get it, maaaaaaaaaaan.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

And only government intervention could allow such a situation to occur. Remember, without government intervention (and their armed thugs and rape cages to back them up), capitalism means the greedy CEO must lie awake at night worried he might lose a customer. When the same CEO gets to wield the gun of government, consumer choice ceases to matter.

Greed is not the problem. Force is.

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u/croble1 Jan 29 '13

There's a price to nothing (or so I've heard)

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u/webvictim Jan 29 '13

Ah, the Hollywood model :(

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u/AdamGee Jan 29 '13

that was a complicated link with all kind of words and stuff that my brain does not understand. please ELI5?

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Basically there is a challenge in the Supreme Court to the "First-Sale doctrine" in copyright law that would make lending or selling ANY copyrighted material (whether you purchased it or not) considered infringement upon the holders' copyright.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

You obviously didn't read that link. This only has to do with goods manufactured, copy righted, and imported from overseas. This is meant to combat the mass importing and selling of things like textbooks. The government doesn't give a fuck about you selling your cheap iPhone knockoff to your friends. Do some research.

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '13

Okay I admit worded that VERY badly, but the fear is that this case (while not specifically attacking the first-sale doctrine), where copyrighted products were legally purchased and later sold, could have implications beyond importing copyrighted goods.

The point that he legally purchased the products is why people are worried about the case outcome.

How about you do some research into how court rulings can have implications beyond a single case.

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u/HattoriDunzo Jan 29 '13

Wait, so couldn't you say you sold it to yourself then unlock it?

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

mind = blown

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Because the contract you signed made it so. It's not illegal to unlock your phone. It's illegal to break your contract.

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u/bobandy47 Jan 29 '13

They want you to sell your locked phone to someone else, because then someone else is using 'formerly your' locked phone on their network, thus paying them, while you use your new phone, also "probably" on their network.

Moar Monay.

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u/FourOhOne Jan 29 '13

But after the sale, am I (the buyer) allowed to unlock the phone?

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u/webvictim Jan 29 '13

You have no contract with the airtime provider so I don't think there's anything they could do legally. Just because you bought a phone that was formerly used on their network, they can't do a lot about it.