michael hodel tracks carriers for the financial data firm morningstar. "this is a situation where a technicality has been used to do something it was never intended to do." the obama adminstration says copyright law was never intended to be this restrictive. it's asked the fcc, commerce department and others to look into changing the law. if that happens, some predict the price of cellphones and smartphones may rise quickly. "it is no secret that consumers will pay more for phones, because the carrier isn't going to absorb the cost. they'll front-load the contracts so you'll pay more up-front and the value of the phone will die at the end of two years." verizon, at&t and other carriers have backed the restriction as it stands now. the wireless association, known as ctia, a trade group representing cellphone companies, says an exception is not necessary because carriers have liberal unlocking policies - anecdotally, cell phone users say this often comes with a fee. this week, the library of congress issued a statement saying that the matter should be revi