White House Says It Should Be Legal To Unlock Cellphones

The White House said Monday that it should be legal for consumers to unlock their cellphones to work with multiple wireless networks without carrier permission.

The administration made its comments in response to a proposal submitted to its “We the People” petition Web site, which earned 114,322 signatures since it first appeared Jan. 24.

In October 2012, the Library of Congress created an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, allowing consumers to unlock their phones. That rule expired Jan. 26. The White House’s telecommunications policy arm, the National Telecommunications Information Administration, had advised the Library of Congress to renew its policy to allow unlocking. Still, the Library of Congress decided to discontinue the exemption.

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