After Saturday it will be…

Apparently the Librarian of Congress reviewed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, written in 1998, and determined that cell phone unlocking should only be allowed with carrier permission. Any third party unlocks without carrier permission will be illegal. An article by Kevin Purdy on itworld.com explains:

“The Librarian of Congress… changed course from previous decisions in 2006 and 2010 and determined that, in short, there exists enough unlocked phones, carrier unlocking options, and other options for consumers, such that unsanctioned unlocking of cellphones no longer needed to be a protected right.”

So, next week we’ll hear that building your own computer will be illegal, since there “exists enough” computers already. Is this really how our legal system works? And how exactly is it that a law written fifteen years ago is suddenly reinterpreted to mean third party unlocking should be illegal? This is all very strange…

Of course, the argument from the big carriers is that they lose money because they subsidize the cost of their devices, expecting to recoup those costs by the time the customer fulfills his two year contract. That model is used, in many cases, but not all. T-Mobile has been pushing a new model for the past year where the customer pays a lower monthly rate, and pays the full price of the device in installments. So, should all of those phones be exempt from the law, since the carrier isn’t at risk of losing money?

There is that other thing that everyone dreads too… Early Termination Fees. What was the purpose of those? Oh yeah, to recoup the costs of the subsidized phone. So where is the problem exactly?

This might not seem like a big deal to most people, but it’s another little right slowly fading into oblivion. I’m a bit more frustrated than most because I have a small side business unlocking phones. This “reinterpretation” just put me out of business.

In other news, a new law has been signed making it illegal to take your car to any mechanic other than the dealer you purchased it from…

There’s been a ton of buzz around Hobby Lobby’s refusal to include the morning after pill and week after pill in their healthcare plans, as required by Obamacare. One side argues that Hobby Lobby is treading on women’s rights, and the other side argues that the religious views of the owners should exempt them from the mandate. Or, to paraphrase, each side claims to be losing freedom. It’s a difficult issue to be sure, but I’d say there’s a logical way to approach this thing.

Disclaimer #1: I am one of those Bible believing Christian types, and that certainly impacts my presuppositions in a debate of this nature. Despite this, hear me out on a logical level and see if what I have to say makes sense.

Disclaimer #2: Some Christians have given the rest of the world the impression that to be a Christian means to hate anyone who sees things differently. Please believe, that is not me. I have no hate for anyone who disagrees with my statements here, has used “emergency contraceptives,” or who has had an abortion. God loves people, so who am I to hate them?

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s try to break this thing down…

It’s not about women’s rights.  Continue reading →

I’m switching commenting methods one last time, this time to something called Disqus. It will allow people to comment by signing into any number of services, not just Facebook… so it creates some more flexibility. This should be the last time… I hope.

Anyway, Disqus allows for importing of old comments, but it’s been giving me a hard time. I’m trying to work with it, but we’ll see what happens. Worst case scenario, I’ll go back to the old Facebook option.