Cell Phone Jammers Not Just For Spy's
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 NBC 10 about the
illegal jammer, “and quite frankly, I’m proud of it.”
Teresa Masterson, a writer at NBC 10, first encountered the
jammer on her morning commute and tipped off NBC Investigators.
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.”
Labels: cell phone jammer, Cell phone mail in repair, cell phone repair
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