Blocking cellphone unlocking software with appeal to the DMCA

Another day, another chapter in the saga of business abusing copyright law to try and lock in consumers. First, they came for the Italians, and now Wired is reporting on one of the (unnamed) major cell carriers here in the States trying to invoke the DMCA to put an (also unnamed) company who sells cellphone unlocking software out of business. CellPhoneCo takes the very wispy argument that Unlocko is distributing tools that break or circumvent "technological measures that control access to copyright works" — because the software breaks the "secret handshake" requirement CellPhoneCo's locking software requires. Of course, you and we both know this ain't about law, it's about bling — and about cell carriers preventing customers from selecting the best service in various contexts by gluing phones to providers. But just as garage door company Chamberlain lost its DMCA
bid to outlaw universal garage door openers, we sincerely hope this power play will get laughed right out of court.