The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon review a...
The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon review a bipartisan compromise on cellphone unlocking, its leaders said in a news release Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1lLU8aB). Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, forged the deal and added the modified Unlocking…
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Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act to the agenda for the committee’s Thursday executive session. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., had led an effort in the House, which passed a cellphone unlocking bill (HR-1123) earlier this year. “Consumers should be able to use their existing cell phones when they move their service to a new wireless provider,” Leahy said in a statement, citing work “for months with Ranking Member Grassley, Chairman Goodlatte and House members, consumer advocates and wireless providers” on “common sense legislation that puts consumers first by allowing them to ‘unlock’ their cell phones.” Leahy posted the four-page amendment to S-517 online (http://1.usa.gov/1q1NyyF). “While there are larger ongoing debates about Section 1201 of the DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act], as well as other aspects of phone unlocking, those issues are not addressed by this bill,” a Leahy fact sheet about the legislation said (http://1.usa.gov/1nYrB0g). Judiciary’s Thursday session, which will also address the committee’s Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act bill, is at 9:30 a.m. in 226 Dirksen. CTIA thanked Leahy for trying to “alleviate consumer confusion” and is “pleased this bill achieves that objective without imposing any obligations on carriers,” said Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter in a statement. The Competitive Carriers Association and Public Knowledge also praised the release of the modified bill. “Not only does the Leahy/Grassley bill restore the right to unlock phones, but it includes provisions that allow for third party help in unlocking a device, as we saw in the House-passed version of this bill,” said Public Knowledge Vice President-Government Relations Chris Lewis.