Posted on 01/26/2013 5:38:55 AM PST by upchuck
As noted by Tech News Daily, a new federal policy in the United States is set to go into effect this Saturday that will make it illegal for certain mobile phone owners to unlock their devices for use on other carriers unless specifically authorized by their carriers. The policy applies to newly purchased devices beginning on Saturday, but not to legacy devices purchased prior to that date.
In October 2012, the Librarian of Congress, who determines exemptions to a strict anti-hacking law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), decided that unlocking mobile phones would no longer be allowed. But the librarian provided a 90-day window during which people could still buy a phone and unlock it. That window closes on January 26.
Unlocking devices allows users to take their phones to other carriers such as T-Mobile or to use SIM cards from international carriers while traveling abroad without needing to purchase expensive international roaming packages from their domestic carrier.
(Excerpt) Read more at macrumors.com ...
We may be at that point in history where enough laws have been passed so that everyone in this country is a criminal. This leaves open the possibility for selective law enforcement to target groups that are in disfavor.
A little known fact that some scoundrel uncovered was that the Librarians of Congress, like federal judges, are nominated by the president, and appointed for life.
http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/librs.html
This means that any authority given them by congress is set in concrete unless congress specifically revokes it.
“In October 2012, the Librarian of Congress, who determines exemptions to a strict anti-hacking law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), decided that unlocking mobile phones would no longer be allowed.”
So a flunky federal fascist, all by himself, decides to write a law and make something illegal. Whatever happened to the idea that only Congress can write law? It’s time for states to start arresting federal fascist bureaucrats.
lol
what the hell is a librarian doing writing federal laws!!!
Funny how you can get Congress to pass these laws fairly quickly but could never get them to pass laws closing our Mexican border to illegals and drugs. This happened because lots of money was donated (campaigns) to the right critters in Congress
What the hell is a community organizer doing trying to run the country?
Does the “Librarian of Congress” have a name? (And address, telephone number, etc.)
James H. Billington is a native of Pennsylvania, but traveled elsewhere for educational purposes and professions. Billington was born June 1, 1929, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He attended public schools in the Philadelphia area and graduated from Lower Merion High School. Billington was the valedictorian of his high school class. He attended Princeton University and graduated as the class valedictorian in 1950. Billington attended Oxford University, and three years later he earned his doctorate.
Billington was also a member of the U.S. Army from 1953-1956 and rose to the rank of first lieutenant. After his service in the army, he was an instructor at Harvard University from 1957-1958 and then became the assistant professor of history from 1958-1961. From 1961 to 1964 he was an associate professor, and in 1964 he became the professor of history at Princeton University until 1973.
As the director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, along with seven other new programs. From 1973 to 1987 he was the director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, which was the nations official memorial in Washington, DC, to the 28th president, Woodrow Wilson. On September 14, 1987, Billington was sworn in as the Librarian of Congress. The two main responsibilities of the Librarian of Congress are the overseeing of all library priorities and the management of the administrative operations of the office. The library holds almost 90 million books and papers and is the nations largest public library. Billington created The James Madison Council, which was the librarys first national private advisory group. The members of this group support the National Digital Library Program and other library programs. Since the library was established in 1800, he is the 13th person to hold the position.
Throughout his life, Billington has written many books. He is the author of Mikhailovsky and Russian Populism (1956), The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture (1966), Fire in the Minds of Men (1980), Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope, August 1991 (1992), and The Face of Russia (1998). The Icon and the Axe, Fire in the Minds of Men and The Face of Russia were translated and published in many different languages.
His first book, Mikhailovsky and Russian Populism, is a biography of Nikolai Mikhailovsky, a critic and populist movement leader. This book covered all aspects of the history of Russia. E.M. Arden reviewed this book and said that there are very few works that cover intellectual and political movements and prominent individuals of the latter half of the 19th century in Russia [that combine] scholarship and lucidity in such a readable fashion as Dr. Billingtons.
His second book, The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture, showed that Billington was a dominant figure as a historian of Russia. The book covered more than a thousand years of history about Russian culture, politics, and Russian development. After The Icon and the Axe was released, Leonard Schapiro, a writer for the New Yorker, said Billington was, a sensitive historian and thought that this book was a highly individual and personal reflection [of the Russian culture].
Fire in the Minds of Men was not as popular with critics as the other histories were. Another writer for the New Yorker, Naomi Bliven, said, Despite all his digging, he has uncovered very little that is of use to Americans in our present perplexities. We still need to learn...how people of different origins can live peacefully and equitably side by side. Billington wrote and narrated the book The Face of Russia, which was shown on Public Broadcasting Stations on June 1998. The Face of Russia was the third part of the three-part television series that showed the history of the people of Russia through their culture. This was not the first time that Billington was associated with the television business. He had also been seen as a host, commentator, and a consultant for various other network television programs.
Throughout his life he has received 33 honorary degrees. One of the most prominent awards that he has received is the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University in 1992. He has also received the UCLA Medal in 1999 and the Pushkin Medal of the International Association of the Teachers of Russian Language and Culture in 2000. He has received awards from several universities, including honorary doctorates from the University of Tibilisi in Georgia in 1999, the Moscow State University for the Humanities in 2001, and also from the University of Oxford in 2002.
Billington is very prominent in various countries across the world. He has become well known in Russia and other countries. He helped teach at schools and institutions in the USSR. Among these schools were the University of Leningrad and Moscow and also the Institute of History. Billington was chosen to be a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and has been both the Chevalier and the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of France. He is also the Commander of the National Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil and a Knight Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic in Germany. He has been awarded the Order of Merit of Italy, the Gwanghwa Medal from the Republic of Korea, and the Chingiz Aitmatov Gold Medal by the Kyrgyz Republic. Currently James Billington and his wife, Marjorie Anne Brennan, live in McLean, Virginia. He continues to improve the Library of Congresss outreach by raising funds and by creating the National Book Festival as a way to facilitate learning through literature. In 2011, Billington was named Washingtonian of the Year.
Silence! :-)
If money was passed to accomplish this coup, we would have heard about it.
This is very simply the embeds in our government doing what they were born and determined to do .. kill the USA.
Years of determination and patience moved the chessmen ever so cleverly to back us into a checkmate position.
There is but one solution to their evil.
That’s quite the resume.
Side note: Same HS a Kobe Bryant
Sounds like a good idea, now since we cannot use our PURCHASED phone to go to another provider, Congress needs to pass a LAW immediately REQUIRING ALL PROVIDERS TO BUY BACK ANY PHONE PURCHASED, AT THE FULL PRICE THE CUSTOMER PAID, So they can buy another phone for a different provider. Watch this law scrapped overnight.
So get the phone unlocked overseas.
I got off this merry-go- round a year ago. I now use a by the minute phone. No games, no internet access,no apps and no $300.00 bill!!! $19.95 a month and I have 600 minutes built up!!!
I want to add, this is bull$h!t.
Two years ago, I traveled to Sweden and I had an older iPhone, 2G/Edge model and I jailbroke it and unlocked it. I got a T-Mobile SIM card but which worked and they have a very good roaming plan for overseas. However, when I got to Sweden, the phone saw the networks but wouldn’t connect. With my iPhone 3gs, it was locked to AT&T and didn’t used the phone except one time and for a 10 minute call, it was $15 !
I plan on doing another overseas trip and will get a local SIM card next time.
Of course what I did is now illegal. But at least Apple & AT&T now permit unlocking once the contract has been served.
oops!!That $19.95 every three months!!!
“So get the phone unlocked overseas.”
Isn’t this what Jailbreak is used for?
Really, these little dictators are becoming out of control. If they keep it up they will eventually reap the whirlwind. And it's all so unnecessary. Just stay out of our personal business and things will run ever so much smoother.
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