Cell Phone Jammer, A Philadelphia man was caught red handed this week for using a cell phone jammer to keep his fellow passengers on a public transit bus from using their cell phones.
“I guess I’m taking the law into my own hands,” he told a reporter from NBC10 about the illegal jammer, “and quite frankly, I’m proud of it.”
Teresa Masterson, a writer at NBC10, first encountered the jammer on her morning commute and tipped off NBC Investigators. She told the blog Philebrity:
While riding the bus, my cell phone signal suddenly went out, which is not normal, and continued to search for a signal for 15 minutes. After a little while, I noticed that everyone else on the bus on his/her cell was having the same problem. Then, I see this guy (pictured at right). He’s openly holding something that looks like a walkie talkie with four antennae in his hand the whole time. Anytime someone would try their cell again, this guy would subtly turn in their direction, press a button and point it at them, then continue reading his book under his creepy hood… I’m pretty sure it was one of those devices that cuts off signals; Jennifer Lopez used one in Enough, so that’s all the scientific analysis I need.
It should go without saying that such a device is illegal. A jammer, which blocks radio frequencies, isn’t just limited to blocking personal cell phone use, but all communication tools that use these frequencies. What does this mean? Essentially that the jammer that lessens the din of personal conversations on your M-14 bus also has the potential to cut off communication between the driver and dispatch centers or public agencies, which could result in a public safety snafu—or disaster. Jammers also block incoming calls, which means that if used for an extended period you prevent anyone in your vicinity from hearing pressing, even emergency, news.
But while today’s news and ensuing outrage online is all over a single man, the practice of jamming cell phones is actually much more commonplace on the rails in both New York and Washington DC. I spoke to two such “jammers” this morning on what led them to buy devices, which range from $40 to more than $10,000 on websites like Jammerall.com. Some boast radiuses of as little as 15 feet while others claim they’re used on military vehicles and for anti-terrorism maneuvers.
“They’re the best thing ever,” says one New Jersey to New York daily commuter who carries a jammer on his 40-minute New Jersey Transit ride each morning. He doesn’t keep it on for the entire ride, he says, just when a fellow passenger talks “too loud” or “too long.” “It fits in your pocket – they even make shady ones that look like packs of cigarettes. I’d guess it’s effective for about a 15 ft radius, possibly more,” he says.
“When I’ve used it, it’s to cut off a loud talker on the train that’s sitting near me.” He says he bought it online from a website that imports the devices from China, where they’re legal and, when asked, told me he’s never felt guilty for keeping his fellow rail riders from conversations. “No guilt,” he says, “Just personal high fives.”
“I always have a grace period with phone calls,” says another jammer who rides the MARC train into Washington DC,roughly 30-minute ride. “Like if someone is saying ‘Okay, well, I’ll be in the office in 10 minutes we can discuss it then,’ I won’t jam them. But if you are talking about what you did last night and what kind of curtains to get for the house, then yes. Silenced.”
Does he feel guilty? Like he’s causing a public disservice? Not so much. “People get super pissed off and bitch about their phones all the time. But I feel it gives me some control against what I believe is becoming an increasingly inconsiderate society.”
“I am not a threat to public safety,” he says. “I am not putting anyone in danger more than anyone on a subway every morning with no cell reception is in danger.”
Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/03/02/are-cell-phone-jammers-the-next-big-thing/
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