As dotTech pointed out last month, it is now illegal to unlock your cell phone in the United States without approval of your carrier. This decision was made by the Librarian of Congress vis-a-vis interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. As expected, the absurdity of the ruling has outraged many. And now American citizens and residents are taking to the web to try to make unlocking cell phones legal.

An online petition has been submitted by Americans asking the White House to “make unlocking cell phones legal… ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.”

At the time of this writing, the petition has received 111,576 signatures which surpasses the 100,000 signature limit required to elicit an official response from the White House. However, that doesn’t mean the White House will respond immediately. As Naked Security points out, a petition filed in May 2012 was answered by the White House nine months later. Nor does it mean the White House will heed to the demands laid out in the petition. However, do expect an official response sometime in the future… most likely dodging the issue I suspect. But, hey, I’m cynic.

If interested, you can hit up the link below to sign the petition yourself.

Make unlocking cell phones legal petition

[via Sophos]