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France Legalizes Mobile Phone Jamming
Metrollica writes: "Wired has reported that France has become the first country to legalize mobile phone jamming in public much to the support of the citizens. A quote from the article indicates that jamming will 'make it impossible to make or receive calls, voice mails and text messages on a mobile telephone.'"
Having been a cell-phone user for the past 6 years, I still don't understand why anyone must talk to someone everywhere they go. I mostly keep my (employer-issued) phone off. If I must call anyone, I wait until I park the car and discreetly talk in the car. For the most part, if I'm not at my home or my office, I can't be reached and I like it that way. If I didn't use a modem, I wouldn't have a home phone at all.
I just wish someone would invent an "oxygen jamming" device, so I don't have to pass through clouds of noxious cigarette fumes on the sidewalk. That, and a "screaming child jammer". :)
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The government is not preventing people from being annoyed. They are making it possible for business owners, etc. to prevent their customers from being annoyed by other customers. This is a very important distinction. They are basically formally granting more rights to its citizens. I wish the US would follow their example. The one stipulation I would suggest is that cell phones can only be jammed where hard-wired phones are readily available in case of emergency and the jammers can be easily and quickly disabled by their owners in the event of an emergency.
I have mixed feelings about this one.
On one hand, everyone in a local area ought to have as much equal rights to the EM band for cell phone use as they have equal rights to acoustic energy bands for talking, boom boxes, etc. So that individuals have some right to low noise in movie theaters, for example.
On the other hand, suppose that individual in the theater is getting an urgent call having to do with life-threatening events affecting a loved one?
It's too easy to a draw a simple line that will be wrong.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Otherwise, you've lost my business. I chose my phone precisely because it has a silent mode.
Now if they could jam babies...
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(I know it'd piss me off, if I were in a profession where I relied on a remote page for, say, something life-threatening.
Ok, lets think this through...First off, it mentions "mobile phones" specifically, and while it might be obvious that any existing technology would also effect pagers, it's not exactly imposible to jam ONLY cell phones...or better yet, only allow certain phones to work...(what keeps Motorolla from designing a "Medical Use Only" pager that won't be jammed by these devices).
The other thing is, if a cell phone or a pager is being jammed, the device should tell the user ("Out Of Range" or "No Service" message) and you can make a CHOICE to either stay at that establishment (and face the possible consequences), or in the case of a movie theater...simply walk up to the manager before your movie starts and say "I would like my money back...I'm a doctor and I can't stay here because my pager is being jammed". Or if you are seeing a movie, call your hospital and leave the number of the theater with them...
If this happens with enough ppl, then they might disable the jamming equipment or what is more likely the case, this becomes yet another reason why you are generally paid more money for being put on pager duty.
Then again, I know that parametics and doctors can carry walkie-talkies that are activated by a base station in a car...this is pretty much the same technology as police use.
this is a completely rediculous loss of rights. ... i have it on vibrate. if i go to a movie, i leave it on. if i get a call during the movie, i check the caller and usually just turn off the ringer for the rest of the call. this way i can respond to emergencies or good friends (i would obviously leave the theater before answering).
...sure, it would be nice, but only in third-person!
... so vibration isn't noticed. cellphone manufacturers could fix this by introducing a wristband, necklace, or wallet attachment that receives a wireless signal from the phone and vibrates (with the phone) on rings.
i have a cellphone and have never gone out in public with it on 'ring'
this is rather similar to the gagging of loud children, or even allowing the shooting of stupid people.
the biggest problem with vibrating phones for most people (students and women at least) is that the phone is kept in a bag/purse
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I expect there will be lots of replies saying how unnecessary cellphones are (blabbermouths in cinemas, road accidents, etc.) to society
Humans have survived for millions of years without cellphones. Humans have also survived for millions of years without public sanitation systems and medicine. Society isn't going to disintegrate just because you get a little annoyed with people who want to talk to their friends 24 hours a day from every point on the globe.
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What did all these people do BEFORE cell phones and pagers? Answer: they stayed somewhere they could be reached.
Let's be honest, phones in movie theatres are a new problem, say, in the last 10 years.
Surely people who must be urgently reached in all cases can make other arrangements, just like they did prior to 1980. Examples:
Leave the number of the theatre with a babysitter, stay home when a fast response might be needed, check in periodically once not in the theater.