[Fwd: [IP] Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal]

Sun Nov 4 13:22:36 CST 2007

See:

http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html

She's even got the Eagle files for you.

- Rob

On Nov 4, 2007, at  11:14 AM, Joseph Bento wrote:

> Kudos to that thoughtful commuter that shut off that woman's  
> conversation!  It's even worse with bluetooth devices!  In the  
> bookshop or library, it often looks like some idiot babbling to  
> himself, and loudly at that!  I've often thought the person speaking  
> to me till you see the cyberborg device hanging from their ear.
> I'm all for new technology, but I think in many cases we've  
> regressed by having to be on a phone nearly 24 hours a day.   
> Neighbours of mine can't even exit their house without immediately  
> getting on the phone.
> I'll have to investigate a schematic for one of these jammer devices  
> - for educational purposes only, mind you.
> Joe, N6DGYPleasant Grove, Utah
>
> On Nov 4, 2007, at 6:37 AM, Michael O'Dell wrote:
>>
>> From: David Farber <dave at farber.net>
>> Date: November 4, 2007 4:55:54 AM MST
>> To: ip at v2.listbox.com
>> Subject: [IP] Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal
>> Reply-To: dave at farber.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> From: "Steve Craton" <scraton at alltel.net>Date: November 4, 2007  
>> 5:30:13 AM ESTTo: <dave at farber.net>Subject: Devices Enforce  
>> Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal
>> Good morning Dave.  For IP if you wish. Regards, Steve Craton   
>> Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal By Matt  
>> RichtelNew York TimesPublished: November 4, 2007http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/technology/04jammer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
>> SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2 — One afternoon in early September, an  
>> architect boarded his commuter train and became a cellphone  
>> vigilante. He sat down next to a 20-something woman who he said was  
>> “blabbing away” into her phone.
>>
>> “She was using the word ‘like’ all the time. She sounded like a  
>> Valley Girl,” said the architect, Andrew, who declined to give his  
>> last name because what he did next was illegal.
>>
>> Andrew reached into his shirt pocket and pushed a button on a black  
>> device the size of a cigarette pack. It sent out a powerful radio  
>> signal that cut off the chatterer’s cellphone transmission — and  
>> any others in a 30-foot radius.
>>
>> “She kept talking into her phone for about 30 seconds before she  
>> realized there was no one listening on the other end,” he said. His  
>> reaction when he first discovered he could wield such power? “Oh,  
>> holy moly! Deliverance.”
>>
>> As cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing  
>> half a conversation in many public places, a small but growing band  
>> of rebels is turning to a blunt countermeasure: the cellphone  
>> jammer, a gadget that renders nearby mobile devices impotent.
>>
>> The technology is not new, but overseas exporters of jammers say  
>> demand is rising and they are sending hundreds of them a month into  
>> the United States — prompting scrutiny from federal regulators and  
>> new concern last week from the cellphone industry. The buyers  
>> include owners of cafes and hair salons, hoteliers, public  
>> speakers, theater operators, bus drivers and, increasingly,  
>> commuters on public transportation.
>>
>> The development is creating a battle for control of the airspace  
>> within earshot. And the damage is collateral. Insensitive talkers  
>> impose their racket on the defenseless, while jammers punish not  
>> just the offender, but also more discreet chatterers.
>>
>> “If anything characterizes the 21st century, it’s our inability to  
>> restrain ourselves for the benefit of other people,” said James  
>> Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at  
>> Rutgers University.  “The cellphone talker thinks his rights go  
>> above that of people around him, and the jammer thinks his are the  
>> more important rights.”
>>
>> The jamming technology works by sending out a radio signal so  
>> powerful that phones are overwhelmed and cannot communicate with  
>> cell towers. The range varies from several feet to several yards,  
>> and the devices cost from $50 to several hundred dollars. Larger  
>> models can be left on to create a no-call zone.
>>
>> Using the jammers is illegal in the United States. The radio  
>> frequencies used by cellphone carriers are protected, just like  
>> those used by television and radio broadcasters.
>>
>> The Federal Communication Commission says people who use cellphone  
>> jammers could be fined up to $11,000 for a first offense. Its  
>> enforcement bureau has prosecuted a handful of American companies  
>> for distributing the gadgets — and it also pursues their users.
>>
>> Investigators from the F.C.C. and Verizon Wireless visited an  
>> upscale restaurant in Maryland over the last year, the restaurant  
>> owner said. The owner, who declined to be named, said he bought a  
>> powerful jammer for $1,000 because he was tired of his employees  
>> focusing on their phones rather than customers.
>>
>> “I told them: put away your phones, put away your phones, put away  
>> your phones,” he said. They ignored him.
>>
>> The owner said the F.C.C. investigator hung around for a week,  
>> using special equipment designed to detect jammers. But the owner  
>> had turned his off.
>>
>> The Verizon investigator was similarly unsuccessful. “He went to  
>> everyone in town and gave them his number and said if they were  
>> having trouble, they should call him right away,” the owner said.  
>> He said he has since stopped using the jammer.
>>
>> Of course, it would be harder to detect the use of smaller battery- 
>> operated jammers like those used by disgruntled commuters.
>>
>> An F.C.C. spokesman, Clyde Ensslin, declined to comment on the  
>> issue or the case in Maryland.
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>
>> Archives 	
>>
>>
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