( CNN ) -- It 's about to get more difficult to move between smartphone carriers and still keep your existing phone . Smartphones purchased after Saturday ca n't be legally unlocked without permission from the carrier , according to a recent ruling by the Library of Congress . Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998 , making it illegal to access copyrighted content and break digital rights management technologies . The software that locks a smartphone to one carrier is covered by the act , and unlocking a phone is the process of freeing a device so that it can be used with a different wireless carrier . The Library of Congress has the ability to grant exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , which it has done in the past for smartphone users who wished to unlock their phones . That changed with the most recent group of exemptions that went into effect October 28 , but the switch included a 90-day grace period that ends Saturday , as TechNewsDaily pointed out . The new policy only applies to new locked phones purchased after Saturday , meaning it will still be legal to unlock phones purchased before January 26 without permission . One way to get around the requirement is to buy a full-priced unlocked phone that does n't have a contract , but doing so adds hundreds of dollars to the phone 's price tag . Carriers subsidize the costs of smartphones to draw new customers in with contracts , usually for two years , and then make back the money from monthly voice and data bills . In its latest ruling , the Library of Congress decided the software on a phone is only licensed to the end user , meaning they do n't own it , so therefore the software is not covered by fair-use rules . Groups that lobbied to keep the exemption argued that making unlocking illegal is anti-competitive and could result in costlier phones and more electronic waste since some consumers would have to buy a new device to switch carriers . But the final ruling says there are more options now for obtaining an unlocked phone than in previous years . Many phones are available unlocked for full price , and carriers do have policies in place for unlocking phones . Currently the rules vary from carrier to carrier . For example , AT & T will unlock an iPhone for current or past customers as long as all contracts have been fulfilled . And Verizon 's iPhone 5 is usable on AT & T 's network . However , it 's unclear whether carriers will tighten these rules about unlocked phones in the future .
Unlocking smartphone bought after Saturday illegal without carrier 's permission . Unlocking is no longer exempt under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act . Comment: