Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse
After the bill left committee, Rep. Goodlatte injected a little poison for consumers.
Via Techdirt:
As you may recall, there's been a ridiculous (on many levels) fight concerning the legality of "unlocking" mobile phones. Let's go through the history first. Because of section 1201 of the DMCA, the "anti-circumvention" provision, companies have been abusing copyright law to block all sorts of actions that are totally unrelated to copyright. That's because 1201 makes it illegal to circumvent basically any "technological protection measures." The intent of the copyright maximalists was to use this section to stop people from breaking DRM. However, other companies soon distorted the language to...