FCC To Investigate Ban On Unlocking Cell Phones

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be investigating if the recent ban on unlocking mobile phones to economic competitiveness, FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski said in a recent interview with TechCrunch.

You probably know by now that unlocking a cell phone is illegal in the U.S. as it would be a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

TechCrunch reports:

The “ban raises competition concerns; it raises innovation concerns,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told me last night at a TechCrunch CrunchGov event at our San Francisco headquarters. [..]

[..] Genachowski isn’t sure what authority he has, but if he finds any, given the tone of the conversation, it’s likely he will exert his influence to reverse the decision. “It’s something that we will look at at the FCC to see if we can and should enable consumers to use unlocked phones.”

We’re also expecting an official response from the White House on the issue after the “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal” petition has crossed the 100,000 signatures.

It’s unclear what authority the FCC has to reverse the unlocking ban, but there has to be a more pragmatic solution. What do you think? Tell us in the comments.