Commissioner Pai Statement on Unlocking Cell Phones

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Released: March 11 2013

NEWS
Federal Communications Commission

News Media Information 202 / 418-0500

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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).

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NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:

March 11, 2013
Matthew Berry, 202-418-2005
Email:
matthew.berry@fcc.gov [5]

STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI

ON UNLOCKING CELL PHONES

American consumers should not face jail time for unlocking their cell phones. This should not be
a matter of criminal or copyright law. Instead, it should be addressed by contract law. If a consumer is
not bound by a contract, he or she should be able to unlock his or her phone.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), as it pertains to this issue, unnecessarily
restricts consumer choice and is a case of the government going too far. Fortunately, there’s a simple
solution: a permanent exemption from the DMCA for consumers who unlock their mobile devices. I
commend the bipartisan efforts already underway to address this problem, and I hope it will be solved
expeditiously.

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