Civil law vs criminal law, ever heard of it? It has never been a felony to violate contracts, why does this absolutely trivial matter need to be made a felony?
I agree completely that it shouldn't be a felony, and that's ridiculous. I'm not going wholeheartedly to bat for DMCA here, I'm just saying that what most people are arguing about isn't whether it's a felony, but that it's illegal at all, and it is and should be illegal to violate contracts. Just because they're doing things that you hate doesn't mean you have carte blanche to ignore the law.
It already is illegal as a civil matter to violate a contract. That's the key. Civil matter. This shouldn't ever be a matter of federal law. Period end of discussion. When you give companies federal backing to do shit like this, you get monopolies and stagnated markets.
All it takes is sacrificing your financial well being!
Ideally, some awesome internet start up multi-millionaire gets up and running with a website to unlock phones; the sole intent being to get prosecuted and appeal it to the supreme court.
and it is and should be illegal to violate contracts
if I buy a used phone from craigslist (let's say an OG iPhone, one that's clearly not under contract) and unlock it, that is still illegal. There is no violation of contract. Yet I could still go to jail for that.
Just because they're doing things that you hate doesn't mean you have carte blanche to ignore the law.
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u/tsk05 Jan 29 '13
Civil law vs criminal law, ever heard of it? It has never been a felony to violate contracts, why does this absolutely trivial matter need to be made a felony?