TracFone sues to kill handset-unlocking rule

WASHINGTON-Prepaid wireless king TracFone Wireless Inc. filed a lawsuit in Florida to repeal a new Library of Congress rule exempting mobile-phone locking software from U.S. copyright law.
The suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Miami, names as defendants Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters. TracFone is headquartered in Miami.
In its lawsuit, TracFone argued that the Library of Congress’ ruling is inconsistent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the company’s constitutional due process rights. TracFone has used copyright law in the past to crack down on individuals who alter the software in TracFone phones in order to resell the phones here and abroad.
“While the scope and application of the exemption are not entirely clear, the breadth of the exemption’s language is such that it could be misconstrued to allow this conduct to be carried on with impunity (at least under the DMCA), which could have adverse consequences for TracFone’s ability to prevent hacking, and potentially impact TracFone’s practice of offering low-cost wireless telephone service to a large number of consumers who otherwise may not afford it,” TracFone said.
The Wireless Alliance, a Boulder, Colo.-based cell-phone recycling company, sought the exemption to enable wireless subscribers to keep phones-through legal unlocking-when they move from one cellular carrier to another.