Should You Go to Jail for Unlocking Your Phone?

"Who owns your phone at the end of the day?" asks Derek Khanna, a visiting fellow at Yale Law and former staff member at the Republican Study Committee.

Last fall, Khanna earned notoriety - and a pink slip - for a public memo urging GOP members of Congress to rethink their stance on copyright law.

More recently, in a column for The Atlantic, Khanna blasted a new ruling that criminalizes the unlocking of cellphones under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Unlocking the phone simply means that a person could use a phone designed for one carrier on another carrier, assuming they had switched his plan. In addition to civil penalties, breaking this law could land you in prison for up to five years and force you to pay a fine of up to $500,000.

"In 1998 a poorly written statute, the DMCA, was passed and it prohibited a wide swath of commonly used technology in the name of defending copyright," Khanna explains. "If this is allowed to stand, then the answer is you don't own your phone."

A White House petition to change the law recently reached the 100,000 signature threshold, which means the Obama administration will have to give an opinion on the matter.

Khanna sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to discuss the unlocking your cellphone, the flaws in the DMCA, and why he was fired from the Republican Study Committee after writing a paper condemning current copyright law.

Derek Khanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dkhanna11
Nick Gillespie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickgillespie

About 17 minutes.

Shot by Amanda Winkler and Meredith Bragg. Produced by Bragg.

Visit http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/02/21... for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.

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[i MYTH]

he likes the word presume

[FireGuyX]

You can't reform the DMCA because it was a pointless law to begin with. There was already too much copyright before the DMCA. The government shouldn't be regulating what people download and upload on the internet. What needs to be reformed is copyright law, and abolishing the DMCA would be a start.

[Derek Khanna]

Thanks! follow my work at @DerekKhanna fb /derekkhanna

[Derek Khanna]

Thanks! follow my work at @DerekKhanna fb /derekkhanna

[Derek Khanna]

It is violation of DMCA - I make a pretty clear argument of this in writings. This has not been publicly contested by anyone - they have agreed with my legal argument.

[Derek Khanna]

Hope you read my stuff too!

[Derek Khanna]

yes

[Derek Khanna]

Hope you got more than that! Check out my other work that I can't post here and let me know what you think. And follow me at @Derekkhanna

[Derek Khanna]

Well thank you - follow me at @Derekkhanna - FB /derekkhanna

[Derek Khanna]

reformed - I'm not against abolishing it but reforming is the critical piece.