www.CostaRicaTicas.com

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/techn ... -1C8086503

Now illegal in US w/out your carrier's permission based on the statute cited as a software violation. In CR, my understanding is no phone sold can be locked, and although number portability has yet to arrive, it is supposedly imminent.

Get the unlocked one's on ebay while you can but wouldn't surprise me if ebay barred those listings. But, I guess there will always be someone that can do it here or in CR--probably at a higher price here now though as they will have to go undergorund?

Here is the scary part of that, the Librarian of Congress is the one who decided that unlocking mobile phones will no longer be allowed. What is happening to this country!

That is strange, but the statute, DMCA, Digital Millenium Copyright Act, puts the Library of Congress as the analyst of what is/is not an infringement.

So what could happen if you unlocked your phone now that it's illegal?

"Violations of the DMCA [unlocking your phone] may be punished with a civil suit or, if the violation was done for commercial gain, it may be prosecuted as a criminal act, Brad Shear, a Washington, D.C.-area attorney and blogger who is an expert on social media and technology law, told ABC News. A carrier may sue for actual damages or for statutory damages.
The worst-case scenario could be a fine as high as $500,000 and include prison time
The worst-case scenario for an individual or civil offense could be as much as a $2,500 fine. As for those planning to profit off of the act or a criminal offense -- such as a cellphone reseller -- the fine could be as high as $500,000 and include prison time.
I don't see carriers going aggressively after people, but bottom line is that I would not recommend violating this provision of the law, Shear said."
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If the govt is the enforcer, it'll turn out like the Do Not Call list flop. I get 5 calls a week from Google anglers or other robo calls.

So, assuming ATT is not going to unlock your phone until it is out of contract, which is their current policy, are they going to litigate against every guy who gets his phone unlocked?

I don't know if your carrier can even tell if your phone got unlocked, except I-phones, because I think San Te explained in a post that you need the carrier to do it thru Apple's data base. I don't think you need the carrier or manufacturer to unlock other phones, just a phone tech who knows how and has the codes.

So, the people who know how to do this in the US will probably still do it, just more carefully? How about the guy here or in Hong Kong--is ebay going to allow him to list the sale of unlock codes? I doubt it. In CR , I predict life will go on as normal so you can have it unlocked there, except for I-phones?

And there's always new unlocked phones for sale on ebay, mainly from China, which I think are not yet bound to any carrier, so that should still be legal? Time will tell how Uncle Sam is going to handle this but I can predict what chicken shit ebay will do.

And since I posted I was advised by BangBang that Amazon, Best Buy, Tiger, and other major companies will still legally sell new unlocked phones: regular phones for less than $100, or a Samsung 3G with touch screen for as little as $200 or so; and Smart phones for $150 up to $750. So you'll have that option also.

I bought a used unlocked Iphone 3gs on ebay for $85 and bartered it for $200 worth of hotel rooms and room service when I left CR last time, and have other tico friends of ours emailing me all the time that they want one too.

I think the bottom line is the value of legally unlocked used phones is increased.

I sense a lucrative business opportunity....

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16