Senators introduce bipartisan bill to lift ban on cellphone unlocking

Amazing but true — commonsense ideas are still capable of getting bipartisan support. A bipartisan coalition of senators this week introduced legislation that would lift the current ban on consumers unlocking their cellphones without permission from their carriers. The bill, which was proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and cosponsored by Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), would let users unlock their cellphones after completing all service agreements with their wireless carrier. The proposed legislation comes less than two weeks after the White House signaled its support for an online petition urging the government to reverse a decision made by the Librarian of Congress last fall to deny consumers the right to unlock their phones and bring them to different carriers.