Multiple Congress representatives support cell phone unlocking and look to submit bills

posted by Michael H.

Mar 06, 2013, 3:55 PM

Multiple Congress representatives support cell phone unlocking and look to submit bills

It's refreshing to see that Congress can actually work and get things done. Soon after the White House officially responded to the petition to make unlocking carrier-locked cell phones legal, multiple congressional representatives from the House and the Senate have stepped forward not only to support the initiative, but to submit legislation to put the will of the people into action.

The first to come forward was Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) who said yesterday that she plans to introduce a bill this week in an effort to "get rid of the ban on unlocking cellphones." Soon after, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a bill named the Wireless Device Independence Act. There is also support from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), Ranking Member on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Essentially, Congress is jumping all over each other trying to be the lead writer of a bill to make unlocking devices legal. There hasn't been any clear frontrunner, or consensus on what the bill should include, but given the bipartisan support, it looks like this one may go through relatively quickly.

source: Senator Amy Klobuchar & The Hill via The Verge

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