Unlock Your Smartphones Now Because This Weekend It Becomes Illegal

Back in October, the United States Library of Congress revised a number of rules that affect how consumers are allowed to use their smartphones and tablets. The rules were changed to state that it is illegal to unlock your phone without permission from your carrier. Other revisions made it legal to jailbreak smartphones, however, illegal to jailbreak tablets.

After these revisions were made on October 28, there was a 90 day period granted before the new laws would be put into effect. That 90 day windows ends this Saturday on January 26, making it now illegal for people to unlock their phones.

Unlocking a phone allows a user to bring that phone over to another carrier of their choice. Most phones come locked by default with the goal of deterring customers from switching over to another carrier.

Just because it is now illegal, however, doesn’t mean that unlocking your phone will become any harder. Customers willing to break the new law will still be able to easily look up ways online to unlock their phones. If you’re looking to do it legally though, you’re running out of time.

Image Credit: 4 Photos

Toby is a writer of word and a lover of Apple, hip-hop, life, and technology.