https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/13/fcc_verizon_phone_locking/

Analysis A commissioner at America's broadband watchdog has come under fire for arguing that Verizon should be granted a legal waiver from his own agency's rules.

On Monday, Verizon said that, from this spring, it will start locking down its phones for an unspecified period of time – despite a long-standing and legally binding agreement with US regulator FCC not to do so – on the grounds that it was trying to prevent theft.