A Foolish Consistency

A former student emailed a helpful response to one part of the iPhone post:

[Y]ou asked if unlocking it violated the DMCA. It looks like the answer is no. The DMCA provides an exception (since Nov. 06) to phone owners who unlock their phone in order to use it on another network. From what I have read, this was to allow customers to use their phones for their intended purpose, regardless of network. Apparently even ATT will give unlock codes to customers after 90 days. However, they will not give such a code for the iPhone, and claim not to have access to one . . . Check out this link. In general “Know Your Rights” is a very good series discussing copyright and DMCA issues. I think they have done another post about ringtones, which shouldn’t be hard to find. http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/know-your-rights-is-it-illegal-to-unlock-my-iphone/

And another former student sent this story: iPhone owner sues Apple for $1 million.

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — A New York woman is so angry at Apple Inc. for lopping $200 off the price of the iPhone that she’s filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages. Dongmei Li of Queens, New York, claimed the company violated price discrimination laws when it slashed the price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone by a third, from $599 to $399, within two months of the gadget’s June debut.

Maybe I can join in. I’m still bitter that Apple stopped supporting the IIGS six months after I bought one in the late 1980s.

Thanks to Mike and JesseR.