Unlocking phones without Network carrier permission illegal in US

Phone unlocking without Network carrier permission is now illegal in the United States. A 90-day transition period, permitting the practice after an exemption added to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was reversed in October.This DMCA act has now run out, something that now forces customers to either ask and potentially pay carriers for unlocking services, or to buy phones that have been unlocked beforehand.

 According to TechCrunch, ''The exemption was put in place after a campaign by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2010''. Three exemptions were applied for, including making jailbreaking legal and the renewal of an existing exemption that permitted phone unlocking. In October, the US Copyright Office and the Library of Congress reviewed and then overturned the unlocking exemption, citing the relative ease for consumers to either get an unlocked handset or to unlock a phone through a carrier. A 90-day transition period was then put in place, which has since ran out.

Penalties for unlocking, as outlined by CTIA, range from the carrier's "actual damages and any additional profits of the violator", to a court-awarded statutory damages of between $200 and $2500 per individual unlock, on the Civil Penalties side. Criminal penalties would see violators fined at most $500,000 or imprisoned for up to five years, or both, for a first offence, with the values doubled for subsequent offences. 

In light of the unlocking exemption's closure, a We The People petition asking for the Librarian of Congress to rescind the decision or to make unlocking permanently legal, has gathered over 25,000 signatures. 

Read more

AVG Report: Android Has Became the Most Affected Malware Platform.

AVG claims in its latest threat report, Android is the most affected platform and target for hackers,Their malware, often attached to popular and seemingly non-suspicious applications in slightly altered packages, attack Android's Linux kernel and replace code that enables the hacker to gain full control over a phone. Called DKFBootkits, the goal may not only be to extract private information, but to incur some small charges, for example via SMS, the owner is unlikely to investigate.

AVG notes that "quick-fingered" people may be lured into accepting notifications they may not even understand. "Mobile connected devices are sitting ducks when it comes to this type of crime as they are already linked to a payment method that requires no additional approval or authentication," AVG said. Android is apparently prime target for rooting a mobile device. AVG did not reveal exact numbers of Android's share in the attacks.

A list of these harmful permissions:

Services that cost you money: directly call phone numbers, send SMS messages

Your messages: edit SMS or MSS, read SMS or MMS

Phone calls: intercept outgoing calls, modify phone state, read phone state

(Via:tomshardware.com)

Read more

How to check balance enquiry and other enquiries in your mobile using Indian Mobile Networks

Airtel

Balance Enquiry-  *123#

OFFER of the day,Hello tunes,Do not distrub -  *121#

STD Balance Enquiry-  *123*6#

2G Balance ENQUIRY-  *123*23#

For Internet Activation dial  *567#  then select the plan

Customer care (free) dial- 198        Click Read more for all networks

Read more