Unlocked Phone? Jail Time!

**Xavsnipe** · 01-28-13, 02:16 PM

I don´t understand the term, victimless crime. If something/someone isn´t affected by something/someone´s actions in a manner of violating that something/someone in any way, then there is no crime at all, hence the term ´victimless crime´ describes nothing.

Anyway...who are people hurting when they unlock their phones? The companies: both the cellphone manufacturers and the cellphone carriers.

I think the law targets anyone who unlocks their phone and those that make a living off of unlocking phones.

Does the punishment match the crime? No, in my opinion.

**SmokenScion** · 01-28-13, 02:22 PM

It's already Law. The LOC issues Exemptions every three years. The LOC did not renew this Exemption.

**Kanati** · 01-28-13, 02:38 PM

It may be illegal to root/jailbreak tablets... but I dare them to come after me for doing so. I don't own an android device I haven't rooted. And I owns a lots of androids.

**Affinity** · 01-28-13, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by Kanati8869

It may be illegal to root/jailbreak tablets... but I dare them to come after me for doing so. I don't own an android device I haven't rooted. And I owns a lots of androids.

Forwarding this to the DOJ. You are exactly what is wrong with this society. /sarcasm

If you want to argue around the semantics of "victimless crime" then I probably need to write a 4000 word essay on the discretionary application of our laws in the justice system. Including the influences of outside interest groups and contrary policies we have in place that seemingly target relatively harmless offenders while protecting institutions guilty of actions much more detrimental to society.

I don't want to argue that though, I am simply interested in the application and possible outcomes of this law. I am simply curious as to how they are going to go about enforcing this and under what pretenses will they try to.

I really wanted to know in what circumstance there will be actual prosecution of these individuals? For example, if an unlocked phone is seized during an unrelated investigation, are police officers going to tack on this offense? I assume the answer is invariable "maybe" or "they could" and so my secondary question is under what pretenses do you think this charge will be actually pursued?

**Kanati** · 01-28-13, 02:54 PM

I would make a note btw... that my phone is a galaxy nexus... and one of my tablets is a nexus 10. Anything with Nexus on it is designed to be easy to root and encouraged by google... And my other current tablet, the Asus Transformer Infinity has a rooting tool ON Asus' web site. Thus, all three of those devices are "legal" under the terms of the law because the developers of said tablets either provide a tool for rooting or give implicit permission to do so.

But... come at me anyway. Someone challenges that law and it will, barring idiocy on the judicial side of things, get shot down. Assuming it even went that far because I would THINK that in order to even bring charges, there would need to be a complaint from the company producing said tablets.

**Xavsnipe** · 01-28-13, 02:56 PM

I think they can easily track which phones have been "illegally" unlocked because they´re sold to different carriers in batches.

**Kanati** · 01-28-13, 03:15 PM

Dunno about that... I would think most get sold on ebay.

I unlocked my iphone 3gs back in the day and sold it on ebay... sold it for more than I paid for it too.

**deathgodusmc** · 01-28-13, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Xavsnipe

I don´t understand the term, victimless crime. If something/someone isn´t affected by something/someone´s actions in a manner of violating that something/someone in any way, then there is no crime at all, hence the term ´victimless crime´ describes nothing.

Someone or something is always effected. Victimless means no individual got the crap beat out of them or was taken advantage of. Victimless doesn't transfer over to company losing profit which is what this is really about.

**Xavsnipe** · 01-28-13, 03:38 PM

Why doesn´t it transfer over to companies loosing profit because of criminal action from individuals?

Yes, that´s what this is about...companies loosing money when people decide to buy a "carrier phone" and unlock it themselves instead of buying factory unlocked phones which are more expensive. The person "illegally" unlocking their phone is screwing the phone manufacturer and the carriers.

**Xavsnipe** · 01-28-13, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Kanati8869

Dunno about that... I would think most get sold on ebay.

I unlocked my iphone 3gs back in the day and sold it on ebay... sold it for more than I paid for it too.

Yea but every phone has their own unique serial or UID or whatever it is number right? So factory unlocked phones have their set of serials and carrier locked phones also have their set of serials. If I´m using a phone with Cingular but has verizon serials, then I have "illegally" unlocked that phone. This is just hypothetical, I don´t know if that´s the way it will work, but I think it´s a pretty simple, practical way of knowing which phones are legal and which aren´t.