You sir are mistaken .It is not illegal in the EU, it is illegal in some member states. Read the local laws regarding recording in public.There are places like Germany where this would be illegal (but still admissible in a court). There are places like the Netherlands where it is legal to have a dashcam running like this (but having a fixed stationary camera recording the public road is illegal).

The lock is in the radio part of the phone, a seperate processor and firmware, accessible through a radio interface (ril). GPL doesn't apply here.