Unlocking the rule of law  As of this week, it is now illegal to
unlock your smartphone. Okay, that’s bad in and of itself, but
what’s worse is how it happened:  Did Congress quietly pass a
bill prohibiting smartphone unlocking and send it to President
Obama’s autopen? No. What happened was the Librarian of Congress
was empowered by the execrable Digital Millennium Copyright Act
to decide what modifications of our own electronic devices we
are permitted to perform. In short, Congress delegated the power
to make law to this functionary, and last October he exercised
his power to prohibit smartphone unlocking.  It is supposed to
be unconstitutional for the Congress to delegate its legislative
power, but the courts have been permitting it for a long time,
provided Congress provides an “intelligible principle” for the
delegate to use. This is a very bad thing.  It’s bad because the
bar for an “intelligible principle” is now so low as to be
meaningful. But more importantly, it’s bad because the limits of
Congress’