The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a bill legalizing cell phone unlocking, which will allow consumers to switch carriers and keep the same phones when their contracts expire. Vermont Democrat and Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy introduced the-Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act-in the upper chamber, where it was passed by a unanimous consent agreement Tuesday night. The bill creates an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which made it illegal to disconnect a phone from the service provider it was sold from. Specifically the legislation mandates that the Library of Congress renew its prior 2006-2012 exemption to the DMCA, which expired last January, and consider its renewal every three years.

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