cmda unlocking is crime or not (POLL)

[anil.prajapati]

cdma unlocking is crime or not (POLL)


plz tell me cmda mobile unlocking is crime or not in india


if yes plz tell me why ?

[barabanki gsm]

cdma unlocking is in crime but cmda unlocking is not crime ...it is good for health do goli subah and do goli shaam ko ha aha ha

[bigjef1]

even drinking is a crime depends with d place ...crime payz bro

[jagritisharma]

unlocking is legal............order in highcout in 2005 any customer unbrick ur network..and use other provider..happy unloccking

[anil.prajapati]

information from Popular Cyber Cases, Cyber Cases Investigation Reports, Cyber Cases Lawyer

Popular Cyber Cases, Cyber Cases Investigation Reports, Cyber Cases Lawyer

CaseXIII. Syed Asifuddin and Ors. V. The State of AP. & Anr., 2005CriLJ4314

Facts of the case :
Tata Indicom employees were arrested for manipulation of the electronic 32-bit number (ESN) programmed into cell phones that were exclusively franchised to Reliance Infocomm.
The court held that such manipulation amounted to tampering with computer source code as envisaged by section 65 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.


Case Details:
Reliance Infocomm launched a scheme under which a cell phone subscriber was given a digital handset worth Rs. 10,500/- as well as service bundle for 3 years with an initial payment of Rs. 3350/- and monthly outflow of Rs. 600/-. The subscriber was also provided a 1 year warranty and 3 year insurance on the handset.
The condition was that the handset was technologically locked so that it would only work with the Reliance Infocomm services. If the customer wanted to leave Reliance services, he would have to pay some charges including the true price of the handset. Since the handset was of a high quality, the market response to the scheme was phenomenal.
Unidentified persons contacted Reliance customers with an offer to change to a lower priced Tata Indicom scheme. As part of the deal, their phone would be technologically "unlocked" so that the exclusive Reliance handsets could be used for the Tata Indicom service.
Reliance officials came to know about this "unlocking" by Tata employees and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act and the Copyright Act.
The police then raided some offices of Tata Indicom in Andhra Pradesh and arrested a few Tata Tele Services Limited officials for re*programming the Reliance handsets.
These arrested persons approached the High Court requesting the court to quash the FIR on the grounds that their acts did not violate the said legal provisions.




Issues raised by the Defense in the case:.
1.It is always open for the subscriber to change from one service provider to the other service provider.

2.The subscriber who wants to change from Tata Indicom always takes his handset, to other service providers to get service connected and to give up Tata services.

3.The handsets brought to Tata by Reliance subscribers are capable of accommodating two separate lines and can be activated on principal assignment mobile ( NAM 1 or NAM 2). The mere activation of NAM 1 or NAM 2 by Tata in relation to a handset brought to it by a Reliance subscriber does not amount to any crime.

4.A telephone handset is neither a computer nor a computer system containing a computer programmed.

5.There is no law in force which requires the maintenance of "computer source code". Hence section 65 of the Information Technology Act does not apply.

Courts Observation:
1.As per section 2 of the Information Technology Act, any electronic, magnetic or optical device used for storage of information received through satellite, microwave or other communication media and the devices which are programmable and capable of retrieving any information by manipulations of electronic, magnetic or optical impulses is a computer which can be used as computer system in a computer network.

2.The instructions or programmed given to computer in a language known to the computer are not seen by the users of the computer/consumers of computer functions. This is known as source code in computer parlance.

3.A city can be divided into several cells. A person using a phone in one cell will be plugged to the central transmitter of the telecom provider. This central transmitter will receive the signals and then divert them to the relevant phones.

4.When the person moves from one cell to another cell in the same city, the system i.e., Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) automatically transfers signals from tower to tower.

5.All cell phone service providers have special codes dedicated to them and these are intended to identify the phone, the phone's owner and the service provider.

6.System Identification Code (SID) is a unique 5-digit number that is assigned to each carrier by the licensor. Every cell phone operator is required to obtain SID from the Government of India. SID is programmed into a phone when one purchases a service plan and has the phone activated.

7.Electronic Serial Number (ESN) is a unique 32-bit number programmed into the phone when it is manufactured by the instrument manufacturer. ESN is a permanent part of the phone.

8.Mobile Identification Number (MIN) is a 10-digit number derived from cell phone number given to a subscriber. MIN is programmed into a phone when one purchases a service plan.

9.When the cell phone is switched on, it listens for a SID on the control channel, which is a special frequency used by the phone and base station to talk to one another about things like call set-up and channel changing.

10. If the phone cannot find any control channels to listen to, the cell phone displays "no service" message as it is out of range.

11. When cell phone receives SID, it compares it to the SID programmed into the phone and if these code numbers match, cell knows that it is communicating with its home system. Along with the SID, the phone also transmits registration request and MTSO which keeps track of the phone's location in a database, knows which cell phone you are using and gives a ring.

12. So as to match with the system of the cell phone provider, every cell phone contains a circuit board, which is the brain of the phone. It is a combination of several computer chips programmed to convert analog to digital and digital to analog conversion and translation of the outgoing audio signals and incoming signals.

13. This is a micro processor similar to the one generally used in the compact disk of a desktop computer. Without the circuit board, cell phone instrument cannot function.

14. When a Reliance customer opts for its services, the MIN and SID are programmed into the handset. If some one manipulates and alters ESN, handsets which are exclusively used by them become usable by other service providers like TATA Indicom.


Court Decided On: 29.07.2005
1.A cell phone is a computer as envisaged under the Information Technology Act.

2.ESN and SID come within the definition of "computer source code" under section 65 of the Information Technology Act.

3.When ESN is altered, the offence under Section 65 of Information Technology Act is attracted because every service provider has to maintain its own SID code and also give a customer specific number to each instrument used to avail the services provided.

4.Whether a cell phone operator is maintaining computer source code, is a matter of evidence.

5.In Section 65 of Information Technology Act the disjunctive word "or" is used in between the two phrases -
a. "when the computer source code is required to be kept"

b. "maintained by law for the time being in force"

[~AKSingh~]

Well

Above mention case is about reliance non ruim cdma handsets
where the key matter was esn changing

Now a days sets are coming with MEID Unique Identification like GSM sets
Moreover these are using RUIM sim

Unlocking is 100% Illegal at Dealer/Distributors/Bulk Unlockers end.
As far as customer/end users are concerned Unlocking is 100% legal
A owner of the device is free to do anything with the handset except the transmitter part of any GSM/CDMA/TDMA Handsets.

br,

[Rin2]

@ A K Singh

Hello sir,
One of my friend from Dhanbad says that there is some raids on mobile repair shop by " Nescom team " held in their places.

Here is the story ( He updates his facebook status )....

Hellow everybody

This thread i start is special for every person who is concerned with the mobile repairing field. This include repairer as well as programmer and seller of the software also.

Recently in india there is raid from police to cell phone repairing shop for china phone software like DRAGON, SPIDERMAN, VOLCANO etc. for modification or changing of IMEI in china phone. We all know that changing or modification is totally illegal in worldwide, but due to some reason we need to rewrite it. Or we change it for money. To change IMEI for money is punishable offence in INDIA under IT ACT.

Here is one news which is printed in "Indian Express" news paper

The Special Operations Group of xxxxxxxxx police today arrested four persons on charges of possessing and using technology to change the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number of mobile phones.

Police raided two local mobile phone shops in xxxxxx and arrested four persons.

“When we raided one xxxxxx Mobile shop, we found it possessing Chinese mobile phones that were banned by India in 2009 for not using IMEI number. This led us to one xxxxxx Mobile shop where IMEI numbers of all kinds of mobile phones were being deleted or altered,” said SOG Inspector.

All the four mobile shop owners have been booked under Sections 66 (C&D) and 68 of Information Technology Act, and under Sections 483 and 485 of the Indian Penal Code for counterfeiting and possessing instruments to counterfeit.

The seized instruments have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar for examination, Khatana said.

“The software they were using are not licensed but can be downloaded. We want to find out if this technology fell into the hands of anti-national elements, given the sensitive nature of the region,” he added.

Police can track down a mobile phone using its unique IMEI number, which is usually printed inside the battery compartment of a mobile phone.

Now police inquired several mobile shops in Gujarat for this. Government think this not keeping china phone software but keeping UFS, SPT, MT BOX, ALL BOXES are illegle and repairer may be booked under copy right act of india as well as IT act (some section are non bailable and cannt get bail up to three months)

Now what can we do just close the business.

I want to know from various product supporter and developer that all our softwares like UFS, JAF, SPT INFINITY etc can break the copy right protecton of cellphone manufacturers???

Is there any way to import this type of goods legally (specially for india)

I request the india user to share there knowledge if they get any suggestion for any legal adviser.



Any suggestion from your end ?

[sunilkumar70791]

imei change is inligle prosess but cdma unlocking is ligele in india

[sunilkumar70791]

cdma unlocking me esn number change nahi hote hai is liye ye ligel prosses hai brother

[aafta]

cdma unlocking is ligele in india

[~AKSingh~]

Originally Posted by Rin2

@ A K Singh

Hello sir,
One of my friend from Dhanbad says that there is some raids on mobile repair shop by " Nescom team " held in their places.

Here is the story ( He updates his facebook status )....

Hellow everybody

This thread i start is special for every person who is concerned with the mobile repairing field. This include repairer as well as programmer and seller of the software also.

Recently in india there is raid from police to cell phone repairing shop for china phone software like DRAGON, SPIDERMAN, VOLCANO etc. for modification or changing of IMEI in china phone. We all know that changing or modification is totally illegal in worldwide, but due to some reason we need to rewrite it. Or we change it for money. To change IMEI for money is punishable offence in INDIA under IT ACT.

Here is one news which is printed in "Indian Express" news paper

The Special Operations Group of xxxxxxxxx police today arrested four persons on charges of possessing and using technology to change the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number of mobile phones.

Police raided two local mobile phone shops in xxxxxx and arrested four persons.

“When we raided one xxxxxx Mobile shop, we found it possessing Chinese mobile phones that were banned by India in 2009 for not using IMEI number. This led us to one xxxxxx Mobile shop where IMEI numbers of all kinds of mobile phones were being deleted or altered,” said SOG Inspector.

All the four mobile shop owners have been booked under Sections 66 (C&D) and 68 of Information Technology Act, and under Sections 483 and 485 of the Indian Penal Code for counterfeiting and possessing instruments to counterfeit.

The seized instruments have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar for examination, Khatana said.

“The software they were using are not licensed but can be downloaded. We want to find out if this technology fell into the hands of anti-national elements, given the sensitive nature of the region,” he added.

Police can track down a mobile phone using its unique IMEI number, which is usually printed inside the battery compartment of a mobile phone.

Now police inquired several mobile shops in Gujarat for this. Government think this not keeping china phone software but keeping UFS, SPT, MT BOX, ALL BOXES are illegle and repairer may be booked under copy right act of india as well as IT act (some section are non bailable and cannt get bail up to three months)

Now what can we do just close the business.

I want to know from various product supporter and developer that all our softwares like UFS, JAF, SPT INFINITY etc can break the copy right protecton of cellphone manufacturers???

Is there any way to import this type of goods legally (specially for india)

I request the india user to share there knowledge if they get any suggestion for any legal adviser.



Any suggestion from your end ?

You can import a box/dongle or tool software etc legally
BUT
any tool /box /dongle/software work for specific brand
and that brand never allow you to counterfeit their instrument's software
a owner of a handset can do anything in his/her handset
but doing a business with these tools are TOTALY illegal

a flash file in you PC is not legal...a small example
all brands are copyright protected
You have to be authorised by particular brand to work on it
ASC > Authorised Service Centre can alter these handsets up to some extent or level they are authorised to

be alert !

br,

[Rin2]

@ A K Singh

Sir that means flashing a Nokia device also illegal ?
All box we use are illegal to work with ?

[leighlee]

it depends on how you think

[~AKSingh~]

Originally Posted by Rin2

@ A K Singh

Sir that means flashing a Nokia device also illegal ?
All box we use are illegal to work with ?

yes all............

br,

[anurag_arora]

all firmwares are property of their respective owners like nokia, samsung, zte, huawei,
any kind of unlocking is illegal. even user code reading from some one's handsets is also illegal, patching in some firmware is also illegal, debranding is not crime, but it voids warranty, but the way to debrand a hand set is crime if any one use company made flasher without permition .