President Barack Obama signed a cellphone unlocking bill...

bill was signed shortly after the scheduled event was to have begun and said it “proves the power of public petition.” The House and Senate approved the final version of the legislation in July. “The most important part of this joint effort is that it will have a real impact,” said a White House blog post Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1sazX6H), written by bill author Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients. “As long as their phone is compatible and they have complied with their contracts, consumers will now be able to enjoy the freedom of taking their mobile service -- and a phone they already own -- to the carrier that best fits their needs.” They said this is the first law directly emanating from a We the People petition to the White House. CTIA applauded the signing. “Even though the vast majority of Americans enjoy upgrading to new devices once their contract terms are fulfilled, we recognize that some consumers may want to unlock their devices to move to another carrier,” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter said in a statement. “Like the voluntary commitment CTIA’s carriers entered into last December, this bill enables that process. Users should keep in mind unlocked does not necessarily mean interoperable, as carrier platforms and spectrum holdings vary.” Public Knowledge staff attorney Laura Moy also praised the signing: “As a result, competition in the wireless market will improve,” she said in a statement. “In addition, there will be more free and low-cost secondhand phones available on the secondary market. This is also an important first step toward reforming the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the overreaching copyright law that made it difficult for consumers to unlock their phones in the first place.”