Cell Phone Jamming Devices Enjoy an Increase In Popularity 805
rullywowr writes "A story run by local new NBC10 of Philadelphia last Friday illuminated the fact that this particular rider of the pubilc bus system is packing a cell phone jammer and is not afraid to use it. Going by the name of 'Eric,' whenever he sees someone being 'rude' on the bus and talking loudly on their cell phone, he screws the antenna on and flips the power switch. Regardless of the steep civil penalites levied by the FCC (up to $16,000 USD), many (such as 'Eric') are still interested by these devices which can be bought on the internet for $40 to over $1000. Opponents of these devices say that not only do they interfere with mobile phones, they often can interfere with 'behind the scenes' communication, Wi-Fi, etc. Despite being illegal, TFA points out that they are readily available on the internet (what else is new?). Do you have an instance where you experienced the positive (or negative) effects of a cell phone jammer?"
I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Because your good at judging who should be on the phone and who shouldn't.
Re:I approve (Score:3, Insightful)
This guy is my new hero, even though he later backed down and said he wasn't going to use it anymore. I for one am fed up with the constant assault of cell phone conversations from people who have no idea how to be considerate to those around them.
I hope you buy one then, and get your dick slammed in the cop car's door as they arrest your silly ass.
If your idea of "being considerate" is to break everyone else's communications infrastructure, buy a pair of earplugs. Or better yet, get a screwdriver and insert until the problem goes away...
Re:I approve (Score:2, Insightful)
Because his good at judging who should be on the phone and who shouldn't? Try that again in something resembling English please.
Re:I use my iPad on the train (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah -- I mean, this is the problem. Like, frequently -- most of the time -- I sort of wish that talkers would, you know, die, but there's lots of unobtrusive usage that's nobody's business.
I'll tell you what I really think is going to happen: I think in 10 or 15 years, we're going to look back on this time period, and be sort of aghast at how people behaved with regards to their phones. I don't accept that things are moving in a more-talk-is-OK direction, I think that there's the possibility that this is a manners-haven't-caught-up-to-tech blip. There's going to be a certain amount of soul-searching as we deal with the driving issue, and I'm hoping that what will come out of that will be, 'Wait -- is what I have to say really important enough to need saying, now, in these circumstances?'
And I'm not generally optimistic about human nature. But cell phone usage, I just don't see how this can go on very much longer as it is -- I mean, it's raw uncut assholishness, all the time, and everyone KNOWS it, but for now, they all DO IT anyway.
My fingers are crossed for what alcoholics refer to as a 'moment of clarity'.
Re:As a Philadelphian who rides SEPTA Daily... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you've got an issue with a particular person talking on her phone, sit down beside her and make snarky remarks until she shuts up or hits you. Don't interfere with everyone else in the area just for your personal convenience. Hey... that's what you're mad at baby mamma for doing isn't it?
Re:As a Philadelphian who rides SEPTA Daily... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's public transit. Deal with it, or find private transportation - you don't have the right to a bitch-free ride on SEPTA. Anyone using a jammer is just being an asshat, not to mention breaking the law which exists for a good reason.
Re:As a Philadelphian who rides SEPTA Daily... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
if everyone else is trying to sleep on the bus/ train and you are loudly using your cell phone about an obviously nonurgent matter (your sister's crazy marriage, your kid's report card, your dog's diet, etc.) then you deserve to be jammed, with my full support, and with the support of everyone else trying to get some shuteye
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
But sadly that is only a partial solution. There are also jerks on the bus who dare to talk to each other. Sadly, in this case phone jamming doesn't work, you have to gag them individually. But that still isn't enough, most buses/subways have engines that are even louder than talking people. I still haven't figured out a way to stop those engines, but I'm working on it...
Re:I approve (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah and the side effect of it blocking the person trying to make a wireless 911 call. Who cares about the innocents caught in this, right?
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
The other problem is that many times the person claims the jamming signal is confined solely within their property/building/domain, yet the jamming signal affects those outside of the jammer's property. That becomes a huge problem.
Those who wish to stop cell phone use should first STOP installing indoor repeaters, then use some form of radio wave blocking paint/building materials. Whatever method they use should be passive and not directly interfere with other property's cell phone signals.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah and the side effect of it blocking the person trying to make a wireless 911 call. Who cares about the innocents caught in this, right?
Why would anyone be making a private 911 call on a bus? Especially without any of the other passengers knowing?
I mean, I'm not agreeing with this; but that's a ridiculous claim under this scenario.
Re:I use my iPad on the train (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean, it's raw uncut assholishness, all the time, and everyone KNOWS it, but for now, they all DO IT anyway.
Actually, the point is that the assholes don't think what they're doing is assholish at all. This will never change.
Illegal Toys for Passive-Aggressive Cowards (Score:0, Insightful)
If the caller is speaking too loud, you get up, go over to him, and politely ask him to tone it down. When I do that, the caller is inevitably embarrassed, apologizes, and more often than not, hangs up promptly thereafter.
Stop living in Nerdly Passive-Aggressive Panties-in-a-Wad Anxiety and join the Human Race.
Re:As a Philadelphian who rides SEPTA Daily... (Score:5, Insightful)
You can't, or you won't?
I see...
really? you can't? hmm
Oh okay, I see what you're saying now.
If you could turn off all the B-grade hip hop music with the push of a button, you would.
If you could shut the panhandlers down with a jammer, you would.
In essence, if you could do something about X in practical anonymity with an easily concealed device with little to no chance of getting caught, you would.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling you chickenshit. Certainly it's much better to avoid conflict with the baby-momma and her posse by just letting her call drop instead of confronting her in person.
Unfortunately, however, it also means you're affecting the person just quietly talking, the person just doing some texting, the person just browsing the web, and - provided that the bus isn't a magic faraday cage for your outgoing jammer signal - anybody in the vicinity of the bus.
Not to mention that...
For another, what if you are the emergency? You're on the highway, you get a heart attack, you fall down, your jammer's still on - nobody can call it in.. they flag down another driver, their phone doesn't work either, they figure it must just be reception there, so (rather than asking another drive to call from somewhere where they can get a signal) they drive the bus further to get a signal again, but still nothing.
I know, society survived without cellphones, I'm sure it will when somebody misses, or can't place, an important call just as well.
But please do choose your jamming moments wisely, and consider the unintended consequences - be that your own untimely demise (I <3 my contrived example!) or somebody's casual game of Wordfeud being cut short.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
There may be other urgent calls a person would like to be able to receive. Business calls, family emergency, but who knows now right? Because this selfish asshole has decided that nobody on the bus should be able to make any calls because he can't deal with the reality of living around other people in the 21st century.
I hope all these morons get caught and have the book thrown at them.
Re:Illegal Toys for Passive-Aggressive Cowards (Score:1, Insightful)
My experience is that asking some to tone down their over the top loud I don't care who hears me, gets you a punch in the face
Re:As a Philadelphian who rides SEPTA Daily... (Score:2, Insightful)
Good luck searching the train to find out who has the jammer.
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
And Mr. Wanker lives up to his slashdot handle. It's ironic that you say,
I for one am fed up with the constant assault of cell phone conversations from people who have no idea how to be considerate to those around them.
when its obvious that you "have no idea how to be considerate to those around them" if you advocate disrupting everyone else's communication devices. The guy sitting next to you quietly streaming pandora over his mobile device and listening via headphones should not have his communications interrupted by an inconsiderate asshole like yourself.
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
So jam the phones of innocent bystanders because some asshole is using one.
Who's the bigger asshole?
Censorship? (Score:5, Insightful)
Folks, this is Slashdot, so I expect some more consistency in in your positions. Here we are supposed to be proponents of network neutrality, ardent supporters of anti-censorship methods, and unrepetent voices in support of freedom of information all over the world. We don't like governments mucking with DNS servers, and we hate the publishing companies trying to tell us how we should and shouldn't use our media.
Yet, here is a guy who passes swift judgment on others and renders their expensive cell phones inoperable for the sole reason that a single individual personally annoys him. He does this anonymously in public spaces, and the victims of his jammer have no recourse to repair their device. The loud, obnoxious caller suffers the same fate that the quiet girl chatting to her mother from three seats back does: everyone is silenced indiscriminately.
For some bizarre reason, the hivemind of Slashdot holds this one-man censorship czar in high esteem, but they would probably object to a public school, library, or hospital prohibiting cell phone use via means of a jammer for the same reasons he uses.
Re:I approve (Score:3, Insightful)
I think he was leaping ahead by assuming that if someone was assaulted, had a seizure, needed a cop or paramedic, it wouldn't be secret information.
The guy jamming the signal would know about it as well and shut off his jammer.
You are not more important than others. (Score:5, Insightful)
I for one am fed up with the constant assault of cell phone conversations from people who have no idea how to be considerate to those around them.
While you're sitting there like a fat little smug antisocial nerd who thinks the world revolves around him and reading his Ayn Rand in peace and quiet, the psychologist three seats in front of you is desperately hoping that none of his patients are feeling suicidal at that particular moment.
I have friends who are doctors, some of them psychologists. They're on call a great deal of the time, and people don't call their psychologist to talk about the weather. They call with things like "I'm having suicidal thoughts."
I have a friend who is an eye surgeon. When she's on-call, she sometimes gets patients who have hours or less before they could permanently lose their eyesight from an injury or complications from an earlier surgery.
I'm not saying THEY are more important. I'm saying their PATIENTS are. You have not seen panic until you've seen a psychologist who has a private practice and discovers her cell phone ran out of battery at some point, and she's an hour from a charger...
I've actually seen a psych emergency unfold, too - the psychologist-friend working with 911 operators and the police and EMS to find the patient and get them to a hospital. That can't happen unless they can reach their doctor to ask for help. Too bad for them some fat asshole nerd is sitting there giggling with his cell phone jammer.
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
Many buses disallow cell phone calls (ex. express bus service in NYC). Many trains have "quiet cars" where cell phone calls are not permitted. They're not absolutely strict on that stuff, but it's certainly unacceptable.
Loud and obnoxious activities (because really, the cell phone itself isn't at issue) are never socially acceptable around a group of quiet people. To think otherwise is ignorant. Act otherwise and you're just an asshole.
Re:Don't be silly (Score:2, Insightful)
If there was an obvious emergency, the guy *should* just switch his jammer off.
FTFY. I don't trust that someone with that level of a superiority complex would be that considerate of others. Sure there might be some that will, but there will also be those that won't and it's those people that cause me concern.
/rant off
Besides, being annoying on a cell call is *not* a crime. Deciding what is law and what is not, passing judgement of guilt, then applying a sentence is not the job of one person alone. When did people start getting such thin skin? "OMG, this person is annoying/offending me - they must be silenced!". Seriously... people need to learn some toleration.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cell Phone jammer not really a NEW thing (Score:4, Insightful)
passive aggressive much? (Score:5, Insightful)
You're also jamming the receipt of said important calls, which the jammer has no knowledge of. For instance, what if there's a doctor on the bus who doesn't get the call saying he's needed in emergency surgery, or there's an undercover cop on the bus watching for trouble (we have undercover cops in Boston for instance) who doesn't get a call saying that he's needed for something.
Why is the right answer to jam them and everyone around them? Why not walk up to them and ask them to bring the volume down? Why must we resort to under-handed/passive aggressive techniques that affect others that aren't violating the social rules?
Re:As a Philadelphian who rides SEPTA Daily... (Score:5, Insightful)
And I'm sure that annoying cell phone user would tell you that if you want peace and quiet, stay home.
You're acting illegally, without regard to others because you're somewhat annoyed by the behaviour of a few people and going over and you don't "feel like" going over and telling them so. I take it back. You're WAY more selfish and inconsiderate than baby momma.
Someone else used the phrase "passive-agressive nerd rage." It fits you pretty well.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah and the side effect of it blocking the person trying to make a wireless 911 call. Who cares about the innocents caught in this, right?
Not to mention the five people quietly texting away, or browsing the web, emailing, etc. Basically, the idiot vigilante is screwing everyone over because of one loudmouth. And lets not forget the cell-based position reporting of the bus/train/whatever, or the GPS that his $40 jammer is also screwing with, and so on. Yes, the guy talking loudly on his phone is an asshat; the guy jamming everybody is even worse.
Re:Difference between smoke and conversation (Score:4, Insightful)
Secondhand smoke is clinically proven to increase the occurrence of lung cancer. A short cell phone call at a reasonable volume is not.
"A short cell phone call at a reasonable volume" is not the problem that people who use jammers are trying to solve.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
An who the hell are you to determine when someone can use their phone? Buses/trains are not bedrooms, sleep in your bed, not on the bus. Don't like someone talking, wear earplugs. If you haven't noticed buses/trains are not the quietest places and phone feedback makes it easy to think your not speaking loud enough. Buses and trains are public congregation points like any other and people have the freedom to speak/entertain themselves as they please. Don't like it, drive your own car. Personally, I hope these jamming pricks run into people with detectors, and forget jail just a good ass whipping should do and then a technology ban.
Aggressive in-your-face "i do what i want" behavior only works if you manage to pull it off without being a jerk to others. What if a guy sitting next to you was coming back from a soccer game and blew a compressed air 120db horn next to your ear? What if someone on the train spat in your face when talking to their neighbor or dropped mustard in your lap while eating a sandwitch and didn't even apologize?
Don't like it? Drive your own damn car. It's easy to have a tough attitude about personal liberty. Difficult when you are facing the brunt of it.
And yes, someone talking for a few minutes on the phone and trying to keep their voice low in a crowded train is one thing. Someone talking very loudly for a couple of hours in a crowded train is completely another thing. There's no rule book for this - the assumption is that as a citizen of society, you would be considerate to others and learn how to co-exist without getting into a fistfight every day. Unfortunately, so many people nowadays are so self-absorbed and grow up with a sense of entitlement, they're forgotten how to be a gentle human being (without necessarily being a pushover). Or they turn their nose at the concept.
Re:I approve (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, they have. Also, people are expected to have a more immediate response.
Welcome to the future, asshole.
Re:I approve (Score:0, Insightful)
Why would anyone be making a private 911 call on a bus?.
I don't know, maybe some guy on the bus pulling out an unknown device and connecting an antenna to it.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a bizarre bit of info, the centrifuge devices they use at my local bloodbank get messed up by cell signals. They don't know why, and I haven't found an explanation for it, but it does happen, that's why they ban cell phones there. And remember, that jammer is stronger than a cell phone signal, if one was used on the road just outside, it could really screw things up.
I'd love to use an emp generator on that douchebag music hater that drives by at 3am with his car vibrating so loudly you can't even guess what the beat is much less the 'music' he's blasting. I can get the parts for a one-shot device, and place it in range of where his car will be. But I don't because there will be a lot of collateral damage, much of which I can't predict before hand.
Shutting down the scum and douches, great. Getting anyone else in your blanket attack, you're worse than they are.
So tell you what, next time someone is too loud on their phone, find where you left your dick, show a slight amount of courage, and tell them "Hey loudmouth, show a little consideration to the other people here and keep it down!". If you can do that instead of being a weaselly coward, make sure you do it loud enough so that not only can he hear ot, but whomever he is talking to can as well. (It's a much bigger deterrent if the person on the other end knows he's being a jerk than if he does himself.)
Re:I approve (Score:2, Insightful)
This just in: you have no right to not be annoyed.
You also don't have a right to use the phone on the bus.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt the jammer device would be considerate enough to restrict its area of effect to the bus. There might be people you don't see being affected by the jammer, people using their phones silently, people using their phones for actual important stuff.
Someone with a jammer is just a little delinquent with too much self-entitlement. Pretty much the radio equivalent of a script kid.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I approve (Score:2, Insightful)
The peeple making the emergency calls may not necessarily be on the bus, just within range of the jammer. For example, maybe the bus is stuck in traffic due to an accident and people outside are trying to make emergency cals.
So your best reason against cellphone jammers is that there "might be someone near a bus who needs to make a call"?
I'm not singling you out personally here, but you've entirely missed the point and just replied blindly without reading the parent comments.
I said I personally think jammers are a terrible idea under any circumstance, but some of the scenarios people are using for justification against them are insane. There's far better arguments against them.
There's plenty of reasons to ban them; but no-one seems to be following the thread and instead arguing that they should be banned just because
"someone might need to make a 911 call while someone drives past with a jammer switched on who might be a part time vet who needs to visit a Corgi with a chest infection"?
I don't think that's a very substantial argument.
Re:I approve (Score:5, Insightful)
He may know about it, but if he's the one that needs help he may not be able to turn it off.
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
Movies, Plays, Recitals, Conferences,
Public Transit, quiet talking for a short period of time if you are sitting next to someone, otherwise no time limit on the length of conversation just keep the conversation suitable for a public setting and use your indoor voice.
Restaurants unless you want to convey that the phone conversation you are having is more important then the company you keep, keep it short.
Sidewalks, streets,
These are simple rules to follow, and anyone that is too ignorant or rude to follow them should be subjected to jamming of their call. The only thing that Eric did that was wrong was his jammer was omnidirectional so anyone using their cell phone in a proper manor could have been cut off.
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
Ok, so it's like blocking off the road with concrete blocks, then. It's only temporary, and only when you're trying to sleep. And if someone really needs to use the road, they can just ask you. Then you can judge them and see if they are likely to annoy you.
Re:I approve (Score:4, Insightful)
That's my choice to make - not your decision to make for me.
No, it's not the same. Unless you live out in the boonies, you're rarely out of range of a tower. Even if you are out of range/communication, as the vehicle moves - you eventually move back into range/communication. In the case of a jerk with a jammer, you remain unable to communicate until he chooses to stop using the jammer.
Re:I approve (Score:2, Insightful)
because you're too passive-aggressive to politely ask them to quiet down
No, because they're too actually aggressive to acquiesce to any polite request, especially one that asks them to change their behavior (where complying with the request would imply an admission of bad behavior on their part, and a perceived challenge from myself). Put simply, if they're going to be rude and inconsiderate to the requests of other people, then I'm going to be rude and inconsiderate to them. Preferably in a stealthy manner.
Why is it suddenly your place to enforce your will upon everybody on the bus?
I guess because I'm having their conversation forced upon me. But I agree, a directional antenna would be far superior.