Last time the United States reconsidered which exemptions it would grant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the right to carrier unlock your smartphone, previously protected under an earlier round of exemptions, was taken off the table. While jailbreaking is still kosher, you’re now only able to legally unlock your phone by asking your carrier nicely. In an effort to see this situation change, a petition was started to force the White House to, at the least, acknowledge and comment upon the situation, with the goal of pushing it towards action to restore unlocking protections. Last month, we told you about this petition, which still had a long way to go to reach its goal. As time started running down, a few late surges have finally pushed it over the top, passing the 100,000 mark.

The petition had until February 23 to reach that point, so while things were getting down to the wire, it’s now reached the point where a response is guaranteed. Before you get your hopes up, that in no way is any kind of assurance that something’s going to change – indeed, it seems like these responses are more often than not explanations for why nothing will be done – but at least it’s a way to show that this issue matters to a whole lot of smartphone users.

Even with the goal reached, if you’d like to show your support and push that number up even higher before the petition ends, you’ve got two days to take a stand for the right to unlock your phone.

Source: We the People
Via: phoneArena