A recent white house response to a petition to legalize phone unlocking, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) has announced that she will introduce legislation to reverse the ban imposed in January.
Unlocking a phone allows it to be used on carriers other than the one from which it was purchased, and it was recently ruled that consumers may not unlock their phone without permission from that same carrier. Currently Sprint and AT&T allow unlocking of their phones after the end of your contracts. Some Verizon wireless smartphones come unlocked.
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 be illegal.
The obvious benefit of unlocking your phone is that you could buy any phone you want without being bound by long standing contracts as well as easier use during international travel.
Unlocked/unlocking phones are common practice in Europe and the Middle East; hopefully the U.S. can catch up to the times.
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