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NYC Law Aims To Ban Cell Phones In Theatres
LunarFox writes: "This article on Wired says a New York City councilman is trying to ban cellphones in 'places of public performance'. It would be the first legislation of its kind, following the recent state-wide ban on cellphone use while driving. Wired mentions that actor Laurence Fishburne, in the middle of a Broadway performance, yelled to an audience member to "turn your f___ing phone off!" And here I thought I was the only one who didn't like hearing Flight of the Bumblebee as a ringtone."
This rush to legislate morality is the same thing that brought us the DMCA, US PATRIOT, etc.
This is New York for crissakes. It will be upheld as much as the jay-walking laws.
Yeah, right.
When I went to see Storytelling, the new Todd Solondz movie, this one guy in the theater had his phone ring. He answered. Not in a hushed tone, and not to say anything like "I'm in a movie, can't talk" and hanging up.
He spent several minutes talking at a fairly audible volume saying things like "Nothing much, just watching a movie".
The audience was hissing at him, shushing him, and finally someone shouted "Would you please get off the fucking phone?"
The guy kept talking for another minute, then got off the phone, then took off. Needless to say, it fucked up that part of the movie pretty badly.
Because not enough people have the common courtesy to TURN THEIR PHONE OFF during movies and performances, perhaps a nice stiff fine of around 250 - 500 dollars per incident would keep things under control.
Banning cell phone use in cars is just stupid. Maybe it's because I'm from the bay area, but using a cell phone while driving is a god given right as far as I'm concerned, as long as you remember to pay full attention to the road. If they're going to ban cell phones while driving, they need to ban radios, conversations and other passengers altogether, especially children.
All of these can be more distracting than cell phones.
Some RIAA nut said "DMCA, that law should be enacted everywhere.", now look what happened.
I prefer Laurence's method. Group humiliation of stupid people is always entertaining.
"Wired mentions that actor Laurence Fishburne, in the middle of a Broadway performance, yelled to an audience member to 'turn your f___ing phone off!'"
I wish I was there for that...
While they're at it, they should pass a law banning the expansion of cellular service to subway tunnels.
One of the saving graces of the NYC subway is that, for the most part, people pretty much shut the fuck up. Unfortunately, cellular companies are currently researching the economical benefits of expanding service to the underground. Combine cramped quarters with non-stop blabber and I fear everybody might turn into Colin Furgeson.
Perhaps petition the venue to create a cellphone policy and permanently ban offenders. There are better ways of accomplishing your goals than having the obnoxious oppressed by the police.
What if there was a Bomb inside the theatre and someone wanted to call in to inform the people there ? Wouldnt this law prevent their freedom to communicate - save lives ? Its silly to ban all cell phones when there are versions with the silent ringer option.
Siggy Say, Siggy Do
This is a case where "the market" can regulate itself; theatres which strictly enforce bans on audible phones and beepers will do better than ones which don't.
You'd think so, wouldn't you?
I thought the very same thing about smoking in restaurants, before my city enacted a smoking ban. Why didn't some enterprising type open up a chain of non-smoking restaurants, seeing as (according to statistics) 75% of people don't smoke, and an overwhelming majority of people say they'd rather not have smoking in restaurants?
It never happened. A few places went non-smoking, did decent business, but I guess not enough to warrant more restaurants doing it on their own. The city ended up with the ban (so far you can still smoke in bars and lounges here, so it's sorta half-ass), and most people think it's been a roaring success.
As much as I hate to say it, sometimes it seems that legislation is the only way for people's behaviour to change. Most people wanted smoke-free eating, but without a law, it was never going to happen. Same goes for cell-phones, I'd imagine. Even though I think most people make way too big a deal out of it - I hear more screaming/crying infants in most places I go, and that lasts a lot more than the 10 seconds a phone ring does, but NO ONE in their right mind has proposed a ban on children at public performances - at least not yet.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
What about those wooden panels that contain magnetic material that block cell phone transmissions developed by Hideo Oka? As long as there are signs that clearly state that cell phones are useless within the confines of the theater and maybe an agreement on the back of each ticket all our problems are solved.
Hell, if your life is so damn important that you have to be able to ruin my trip to the movies with your noise then maybe you shouldn't be wasting your time in the theater in the first place...
Well, the proposed fine is $50, not jail time.
For a better sense of proportion, consider the cost of the interrupted play - 500 people in a theatre at $25/ticket, having had the performance ruined by a cell phone ring.
A $50 ticket is reasonable.
I vote for a box to make cell phones ring as you enter an establishment, so that whoever is at the door can hand out a clue.
In movie theaters, you could put up a "have you turned off the ringer on your cell phone?" slide, and then make the things ring. Do this 4 or 5 times before the previews, etc., start.
Another alternative is to actually put a *cell* in the theater, and give it a $50 call termination/origination fee. 8-).
-- Terry
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Better yet just have anyone disrupting a performance be financially responsible for anyone who wants a refund.
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If they have that kind of responsibility, they probably shouldn't be in a theatre.
Clearly they're being paid, they should be willing to make some sacrifices.
Jamming the cellphones while in the theatre is.
A law should be passed to allow active jamming of cellphone signals by property owners on their property, rather than outlawing the use of cellphones in certain areas.
Why? because then the law will not be twisted to new interpretations - i.e. carry a cellphone at a public protest, and be arrested for it.
Try and use a cellphone to call someone to report police brutality and get arrested for it.
Think facing a search when entering a public place to 'check for cellphones' is too far fetched? After the airport security measures introduced after 9/11, I don't think so.
Just carrying a cellphone could be grounds for detention or search.
Another option is for manufacturers to voluntarily support some type of audible-ring supression on receipt of a certain signal - this is, of course, a similar type of strategy to the RIAA/MPAA - control the rings by modifying the hardware, but in this case, I don't think too many people will be actively hacking such a system, especially since it does not preclude non-audible alerts.
However, I still think the blanket jamming approach is best all round, since the cellphone industry has not responded to the problem by now.
The only situation I could see where jamming would be undesirable is in some type of emergency situation where a cellphone call getting through might be important e.g. fire/earthquake etc.
All in all, I think if cellphones have become a significant enough annoyance, then the government should let the people take action if they so desire, instead of the police - This might result in the manufacturers coming up with a real solution to the problem instead of sweeping it under the rug and pretending that building deliberately obtrusive alert mechanisms is a good thing to do.
Now, this might lead to johnny/julie hacker building a mobile cellphone jammer to keep obnoxious cellphone users out of his/her personal space, so such a law would need to be written carefully - perhaps you would need to obtain a permit to jam cellphones in your area and pass inspections to ensure you weren't jamming too large an area. It could be part of the building codes etc.
However, I believe that giving people the right to supress transmissions on non-essential spectrum on their own property shouldn't be a big problem.
Anyone else think along these lines?
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
I'm glad someone brought this up... Blue Linx Inc. has been working on this for quite some time now. The question is whether it will be adopted by the industry or not (be sure to read the FAQ on Blue Linx's site). There's also another article mentioning Quiet-Zones here.
I too was sitting in the Cinema the other day whe a cell phone went off and wondered to myself:
:)
Why don't they just put wire mesh on the walls of theatres and cinemas. The wire mesh gaps being the wavelength of cell phones (which I think is about 35cm) Then all that would happen is that those people who didn't turn their cell phones off would have flat betteries by the end of the film
I can't really see any down side to this - technical solution to a technical problem.