The cell phone industry was able to get an unelected official at the Library of Congress to issue a ruling making it a 5-year felony if you take a cellphone you already own and try to take it to another cell phone service.

It's what's called unlocking.

This unelected official -- the Librarian of the Congress -- was given this odd power by Congress to imprison American citizens for taking property that they own and unlocking it under the Millennial Digital Protection Act.

This is really just an industry protection act aimed to limit our freedom to the benefit of big corporations.

Within hours of this obnoxious decision, a petition started and 100,000+ signed in short order, making it a petition the feds had to respond to. The White House says they support unlocking phones. And the FCC now backs you being able to unlock phone that you own.

So even with a law on the books, the odds that you'll go to jail is about zero. Look for a live webcast coming soon where I break the law, unlock a cell phone, and dare AT&T to try to prosecute me and send me to federal prison.

Because that's really what this is about …AT&T trying to protect its profits.

We need legislation that overturns this arbitrary and ridiculous decision. But ultimately, we need to be able to buy a cell phone for an unsubsidized real price and use it however you wish with whichever carrier you wish.