[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Thalinor:
Apparently the EFF does not agree with you [and me] on this argument. I have not heard back from them since the last update I posted here, despite two phone calls and an email. The last update I got is that almost two months ago Jeff, who had been doing research, was going to go to the EFF lawyers and pitching the case. He said if they would not take it he would still call me back and put me in touch with other lawyers they work with on the side, that could take the case for little or no money. That's the last contact I was able to make with Jeff. I tried to followup but if they don't want to do anything. Harassing them with more phone calls is not going to help, if they don't want to spear head this I can't force them and don't have the funds to do it myself. We are talking about a major corporation and I just don't have that kind of money.

I was trying to get people who would back a commercial letting the public know how Verizon's business practices are hurting the industry and our economy, but not only is the cost exorbitant, I actually had several people I contacted at different networks say they would not run that kind of ad. I guess Verizon spending lots of money on commercials bought them some favors. They of course would not put this in writing, but were very clear they were not interested in running that kind of ad. In another case a different network quoted me a much higher cost then it should have been quoted; I even called back a few days later and got a much lower quote on a [hypothetical] ad, running in the same area and time slot I wanted to air, but this one having nothing to do with Verizon.

Basically, the ones who did not flat out say no were very clear by the inflated cost they quoted that they were not interested in running the ad.

I am done though, I give up. I tried. Since then the US government [and their corrupt judge(s)] have shown they support litigation over innovation, something that has become par for the course here in America. I am just sick of everything and am tired of wasting my time fighting a battle that can't be won.

We have an unencrypted bootloader. Verizon knows we can make waves if they keep up this crap, and the court case for 1.2 million Verizon just lost over blocking tethering has caused them to be a little more willing to work with customers. I have seen it in my own dealings with Verizon, and hope that this trend continues.

This kind of behavior on Verizons part is not new; we have weathered it before and things did change for the better, though history does repeat itself with Verizon. I remember the V710 lockdown on BT profiles and when we won that court case how things did get better in subsequent years for Verizon customers. As a 10 year Verizon customer, I can tell you that's the way it goes with Verizon, two steps forward, one step back. This is not the first time and I doubt it will be the last, though I hope they have taken the hint and things settle down for a few years. Locking phones to prevent idiots from breaking them and then trying to pass the cost of a replacement device on the company is an acceptable practice; encrypting them to try and prevent developers and phone enthusiasts from using a product we paid for to its fullest capability is not going to be tolerated. Lets hope they got the message.

I don't see a reason to keep this thread open; if someone else wants to pick up the torch then they can start a new one and reference back. Mods can lock/archive if they would like, it's their call.

I tried, and I am sorry I failed. I have spent many hours on the phone and typing emails, doing research, and arguing with many different people to the point where people in VZW corporate who I had yet to actually talk to, knew my name before hand and already had a negative tone. My Verizon account reads as many pages as a late career Robert Jordan novel, with pages of long winded excessive notations and documentation. I had one Verizon tech say even taking into consideration the 10 years I had been with them, she had never seen an account with so much employee notated documentation. "This is a novel... No Seriously." she said.

I am sure there is something I could have done better, but I tried. Without a crap load of money or something like the EFF backing your case, you will just not win against a multi million dollar corporation.

Again, I am sorry.

...end of line. (<- lols)