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Should Cell Phone Jamming be Legal?

pcworld.com — Cops, jails, hospitals, and even theaters argue they have legitimate reasons to block cell phone communications.

Who dugg this? Made popular Mar 2, 2009

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  • scottmoss, on 03/01/2009, -9/+120Just wait until you need to make that emergency call for someone having a ,heart attack, robbery, lost child etc. you pick it, and find out that there is a jammer in the area or everyone has jammers in the area and can't make a call. I agree having someone in a theater talking on a cell phone sucks but....
  • fuzzmeister, on 03/02/2009, -4/+85I'd only be for it if it was a sort of "smart jammer" that detected calls with a preset 911 tag and let them through. No matter where you are, you should be able to reach emergency services.
  • crapolatime, on 03/02/2009, -3/+78Don't use cell phone in Hospital. For safety or something like that.

    So instead send out more radio waves to jam cellphones. For Safety or something like that.

    Brilliant.
  • PeppermintPig, on 03/01/2009, -22/+71On private property, of course it should be up to the owner.

    Outside of that, the general answer is no. But then the theoretical question of conflicting transmission signals does come up such as two radio stations trying to use the same airwave space, in which case I would encourage homesteading to be a basic guideline in arbitrating a solution, but never as a rule/law.

    There is plenty of frequency space out there for everyone to use. There is really no need for the FCC.
  • brainboy7777, on 03/02/2009, -5/+46jamming nyc during a terrorist attack will cause more panic, dhs are ***** retarded.
  • wafflesomd, on 03/02/2009, -3/+42Time matters a little when someone is having a heart attack. Only a little.
  • soccernamlak, on 03/02/2009, -3/+39Maybe instead of relying on technology to babysit people and control what people can and cannot due, people should just learn some damn manners. You don't need to be texting or calling people inside of a movie theater. You don't need to be on your phone making business decisions in a sit-down, quiet restaurant. You don't need to be screaming into your bluetooth headpiece as you walk around in the mall.

    Common courtesy: if people actually respected one another, we wouldn't have to rely on cell phone jammers to punish the idiots of the world and harm the innocent people who are courteous.

    Plus, what happens when there is an emergency? And there are no landlines around? What then?
  • edwartica, on 03/02/2009, -1/+37Its a can of worms. If you have the right to block one signal, you have the right to block all signals. Pretty soon apartment buildings are making deals with cable companies - the owner of the building puts up a block on all TV signals and the residents either have to get cable, or go without tv altogether. I know its kind of an absurdest example, but the potential for abuse should always be scrutinized with this type of thing.
  • MisterRik, on 03/02/2009, -3/+32And you don't own the airwaves on your property. And show me the active tech that can jam signals only within a definable space.
  • MisterRik, on 03/02/2009, -0/+29that is passive jamming, and you don't need lead. Just build a Faraday cage into the walls. Completely legal already.
  • Iggins, on 03/02/2009, -2/+30What the ***** ever happened to personal responsibility?! We're slowly doing away with it! Most theaters have a minute long "SILENCE YOUR PHONE" slide. I mean it's common sense! Phones have a vibrate function for a reason! You should be allowed to receive calls in case of emergency. But your responsibility for having a noise-maker is to make sure it doesn't bother others! (But in the case of safety of other transmissions i can understand...)
  • blankman, on 03/02/2009, -8/+30No way, jamming is going to cause a whole lot more problems than it solves. What if some apartment owner wants to block calls in his apartments and someone has a heart attack?

    Muggers and kidnappers would know all the jammed locations to make their move as it would take people that much longer to get to a phone.

    Then what's to stop businesses from blocking phones for their own profit. Want to make a call in Walmart? head over to the payphones like it's the 80's again.

    If there's really a problem with people talking on their cellphones in say a movie theater, wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to just send someone down the isles to kick out talkers?

    Haven't we given enough power to government and corporate entities without giving them the right to block our own cell phone calls as well? Does it really hurt anyone if someone wants to silence their phone and text someone in a "quiet" area?
  • Diggnabbit, on 03/02/2009, -2/+24Really? plenty of frequency space out there for everyone to use? That wasn't even true when the only people using radio frequencies were radio stations. That's why we have the FCC in the first place.
  • redgiemental, on 03/01/2009, -10/+31I'd love jammers inside theatres and cinemas.

    As long as the jammer only works inside the building that would be great.

    Oh and that new technology for using cell phones on planes makes me want to avoid those airlines not use them.
  • CocodaMonkey, on 03/02/2009, -0/+21I think it's you who doesn't understand. They ask you not to use a cell phone because it could interfere with the equipment. Jamming essentially works by using the same frequency as the cell phones, so if a cell phone were to cause a problem odds are so would the jammer.
  • akshay626, on 03/02/2009, -1/+21There are FCC regulations.
  • imzesuit, on 03/02/2009, -3/+22Jammers are illegal for a reason. Take a look at the FCC spectrum allocation map. Crowded, isn't it? If you attempt to interfere with cellular signals, you will invariably interfere with other parts of the spectrum, including emergency response and military frequencies. I'm glad jammers are illegal, and because of signal bleed, as well as heavy lobbying by powerful telecommunications companies, there is almost no chance that they will ever become legal.
  • daftman, on 03/01/2009, -8/+27They should allow broadband jamming too. To prevent morons posting on the web.
    This is not very different from the same logic you are using.
  • NickLee808, on 03/02/2009, -2/+20Sounds like someone needs a sorority girl to text him.
  • MisterRik, on 03/02/2009, -0/+18You shouldn't be barred from using it, but you should be punished for using it irresponsibly or rudely. Use it in a theater -get banned from that theater for life. Use it somewhere where it causes a danger to others - face legal consequences. No need to use technology to solve the problem when society has rules that cover it.
  • MisterRik, on 03/02/2009, -1/+18And those primitive things are becoming rarer and rarer by the day. Phone boxes are going, people in their homes are using cell only. But hey, you feel free to run about looking for somewhere out of range of the nearby jammer to make that 911 call.
  • QNXX, on 03/02/2009, -1/+16This is what faraday cages were meant for...
  • markusfarkus, on 03/02/2009, -7/+22It's 2009. Don't we have the technology to just remotely switch phones to vibrate? That's all we really need. You take out the part that causes interruption and aggravation and everybody is happy. You still have to deal with those dicks that check their bright ass phones every five minutes at the movies but at least you won't be bothered by a phone ringing.
  • mrgeekguy, on 03/02/2009, -1/+15Hmmm, a cell phone jammer for $29.13. Thanks China!
    http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4355
  • carlosos, on 03/02/2009, -4/+17Yeah, let jam the signal in a theater and outside someone tries to dial 911 on his cell phone but can't.
    Nobody should be allowed to jam signals. Don't let the signal onto your property if you have a problem with them but don't create new signals that go outside.
  • maexus, on 03/02/2009, -4/+16Not as many.
  • S201, on 03/02/2009, -13/+25Jamming should be illegal. No one should be able to tell you when and where you can or can't use your own cell phone that you pay for. Not to mention the fact that in an emergency, you would have no way of using your phone to call whoever.
  • merky1, on 03/02/2009, -0/+12I would rather see an increase in penalties for inappropriate cell use. Like removal from a movie / lecture / etc. Jamming is too drastic a measure to reinforce what should be just common sense.
  • Kevin108, on 03/02/2009, -4/+14Raspberry! There's only one man who would dare give me the raspberry. Lone Star!
  • clickmyface, on 03/02/2009, -0/+10Is it really that big of a problem where you are? I see 2 movies a month, and hardly notice anymore.
  • blakbot, on 03/01/2009, -17/+26Jam on!
  • wassim2k, on 03/02/2009, -3/+12My uncle's gas station/convenience store has a jammer above the cash register. It's way too annoying when people won't shut up for 5 seconds so that they can properly check out.

    "how much was that? yeah Latisha I told Yolanda to get that... 12.50? So Bookie should have known better. One Marlboro Light. So tell Latisha to forget it then. Here try this card instead. It ain't Aisha's damn business what he said!" ** Activate Jammer ** "So what if he said that. hello? hello? Lawonda? Hello?" ** laugh inside **
  • Beylan, on 03/02/2009, -2/+11And you are exactly the reason that cell jammers should remain illegal.
  • mycoplasma, on 03/02/2009, -2/+11It should be illegal because it would be difficult to make sure that you only jam phones on your property. What if you couldn't make a phone call because the movie theater across the street has a jammer?
  • inactive, on 03/02/2009, -1/+9Ghetto is ghetto. The color of a persons skin has nothing to do with it.

    Suddle isn't a word. Perhaps you meant subtle? Stay in school kid. The more reading you do, the better.
  • TexMexRex, on 03/02/2009, -0/+8Even more illegal. I'm not saying it's wrong, but you intercepting phone calls requires a warrant from a judge.
  • edwartica, on 03/02/2009, -0/+8I know, I've never had any problem with cell phones in movies - save for an on call doctor. Yeah, I didn't really mind him getting called in to go save lives.
  • ShugNinx21, on 03/02/2009, -0/+8The problem is even with that min long slide and the fact that everyone knows you shouldn't be using your phone in the theater ***** do it anyways.
  • phosphite, on 03/02/2009, -2/+10This seems dumb. Even if they do start jamming now all the time, eventually people will get fed up with it and want everything unjammed, in which case we'll be back to where we are now...why can't they just leave alone?
  • sonofashoe, on 03/02/2009, -0/+8"Cellphones are used in prisons to conduct criminal business and intimidate victims and witnesses." Here's an idea. Ban cell phones in prisons!? But, PC Mag says, they are routinely smuggled in. Nothing we can do about that I guess. Weird how they get smuggled in with rechargers and have easy enough access to outlets though.
  • PopcornDave, on 03/02/2009, -0/+7Genius! Would you do that vertically, horizontally or cylindrically?
    /s
  • black27696, on 03/02/2009, -0/+7@middleblocker

    People survived 200 years ago too, unless you got the flu and then you simply died. Just because some type of technology isn't necessary for daily life doesn't mean it can't help.

    To add to the same point with another example, doctors got to sick patients 200 years ago as well. Of course, you had to ride a horse to his house first, and then ride back with him, by which point the person is probably dead. Should we get rid of police radios too? Not to mention the fact that public phones are quickly dying. It's rarer and rarer to see payphones and when's the last time you saw a brand new one put up where there wasn't one already?
  • lukeag10, on 03/02/2009, -2/+9@middleblocker: That doesn't mean that it's not useful to be able to call emergency services at all times. Even if you're at a movie theater, the popcorn stand usually doesn't have a land line, so you would have to waste valuable minutes looking for a phone in a cell-phone-jammed theater. And in an emergency situation, I think wafflesomd put it best "Time matters a little..."
  • venom8599, on 03/02/2009, -0/+7Sir! I'm having trouble with the radar, sir. I've lost the bleeps, I've lost the sweeps, and I've lost the creeps.
  • black27696, on 03/02/2009, -1/+7@Metalcard

    See "Faraday Cage" from the comment above yours.

    That being said, I think it's a bad idea to block cell phone traffic, there's always a chance of an emergency, and I'd rather know my family was in a car accident right away even if it means you miss one line of the story. This is why the vibrate feature is built in to phones.
  • yacks, on 03/02/2009, -0/+6@Nerys:

    that's all good and dandy but the sudden popping of the light in the corners of your eyes makes you focus your attention to that. It's a reflex.
  • BigVi, on 03/02/2009, -0/+6Prisons make sense, but the rest dont.
  • linagee, on 03/02/2009, -0/+6Passive versus active jamming. You wouldn't want to use active jamming in a hospital. Passive jamming is just a faraday cage.
  • Grasschoppa, on 03/02/2009, -2/+8if everyone is worried about the inability to make an emergency cell phone call in the theatre, just install a land-line 911 callbox in the theatres...
  • linagee, on 03/02/2009, -0/+6WRONG. You could have a faraday cage and have a local repeater for GSM/CDMA/etc and that local repeater only allows 911 calls.
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