EFF Kicks Off Campaign to Free Your Phone

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, January 15, 2009

Contact:

Jennifer Stisa Granick
  Civil Liberties Director
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  jennifer () eff org
  +1 415 436-9333 x134

Fred von Lohmann
  Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  fred () eff org
  +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell)

EFF Kicks Off Campaign to Free Your Phone

Software Locks on Cell Phones Stifle Competition and
Cripple Consumers

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is
asking for the public's help in its new campaign to free
cell phones from the software locks that stifle competition
and cripple consumers.  The campaign's website is
FreeYourPhone.org.

Hundreds of thousands of cell phone owners have modified
their phones to connect to a new service provider or run
the software of their choosing, and many more would like
to.  But the threat of litigation under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has driven them
underground.

The DMCA prohibits "circumventing" technical protection
measures used to protect copyrighted works.  But many cell
phone manufacturers and service providers build these
software locks to protect their business models instead of
copyrighted material.

"Apple locks its iPhone to AT&T and prevents users from
installing any software that has not been pre-approved by
Apple," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred
von Lohmann.  "Consumers need a DMCA exemption to lift the
cloud of legal risk that otherwise serves only to reduce
competition and consumer choice."

Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office convenes a
rulemaking to consider granting exemptions to the DMCA's
ban on circumvention to mitigate the consumer harm.  EFF
has already filed exemption requests with the Copyright
Office addressing the issues, but the rulemaking proceeding
also accepts public comments about the proposals.

"Companies are using the DMCA to threaten customers out of
exercising their consumer rights," said EFF Civil Liberties
Director Jennifer Granick.  "The Copyright Office needs to
hear real stories about how these software locks frustrate
consumers and developers."

On FreeYourPhone.org, people can sign EFF's petition to the
Copyright Office and share their stories about cell phone
frustrations.  EFF will also help people officially submit
those stories to the Copyright Office before the February 2
deadline.  The Copyright Office will hold public hearings
on the DMCA exemption requests in Washington, DC, and
California in the spring, and the final rulemaking order
will be issued in October.

For more on the Free Your Phone campaign:
http://www.FreeYourPhone.org

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/01/15

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


    -end-

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