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U.S. Government Sometimes Jams Keyless Car Locks?

PizzaFace writes "The Washington Post reports that in certain towns (generally near military bases), on certain days (such as the day an aircraft carrier returns to port), keyless car entry systems and remote garage door openers mysteriously fail. While some frustrated motorists blame aliens, the FCC says the jammed frequencies belong to the U.S. military. The good ol' Post even tracks down a government contractor who all-but-confirms the source of the interference."

16 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. fp by Zorilla · · Score: 5, Funny

    first po#@)(^*ESDHLKS&^$#HLFSDIHF

    [JAMMED]

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    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  2. Tin Foil Hat Time ! by Jesrad · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hear you get good prices when buying tin foil in large orders. I'd probably need that for the garage door.

    --
    Maybe we deserve this world ?
    1. Re:Tin Foil Hat Time ! by ThisIsFred · · Score: 4, Funny

      Think again. One of the United State's largest manfacturers of aluminum products is Alcoa. They are [and their subsidiaries] also a military subcontractor. Your purchase would probably invite investigation. Now see, if you'd just been buying a little extra every week since before Y2K, you'd have enough to make an aluminum suit for you and your car for every day of the week.

      --
      Fred

      "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
      -RMS
  3. Luddites rejoice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Horse and buggy remains unaffected by such measures.

  4. Conspiracy! by pyrrhonist · · Score: 5, Funny

    This will be in Michael Moore's next film. </satire>

    --
    Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  5. Obligatory Spaceballs Quote by Zorilla · · Score: 5, Funny

    Radar Tech: "Sir. The car keys, sir. They appear to be... jammed."

    Dark Helmet: "Jammed? Raspberry. There's only one man who would dare give me the raspberry. Lone Starr!"

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  6. For sale.... by infernalC · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tin-foil key fob covers... patent pending.

  7. Re:When you can't by Tlosk · · Score: 5, Funny

    so buy the replacement now and stick it in the glovebox

  8. Re:Jams? by evilviper · · Score: 4, Funny
    the military has blankey control

    I know that was just a typo, but I nearly wet myself laughing, anyhow...

    Somehow I picture Linus (the "Peanuts" character) as the captain of an aircraft carrier, exerting his "blankey control".
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    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  9. Re:Forget part 15... by M.+Silver · · Score: 3, Funny

    Too bad part 15 of the FCC's guidelines can't apply.

    It should, just not in the way you're thinking:

    Whatever they had running was so strong, it completely fried the system.

    That's what the "must accept interference" part comes in.

    Of course, the idea of going to Olds and saying "Your stuff violated part 15 because it didn't accept FCC-legal interference. So replace it with something that does, or I'm siccing the FCC on you!" is probably not terribly workable.

    Might be fun, though.

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    Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
  10. Doesn't matter. by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here's a scary story:

    I worked at a branch of the military for a while. During one of the status reports, I heard this story:

    Two repair techs lock out the machine they're working on with padlocks and put the keys in their respective pockets. Once they're done the repair, they go to turn the lockout off, and...

    "What the [pretty flowers]? The [fluffy bunnies] padlocks are [cute kitten] missing!"

    They searched the ship, and they found a drawer full of bent, broken, and damaged padlocks. It didn't belong to anyone, but it was a real WTF moment. Not only did someone ignore the lockout routine, but the guy pried open the padlocks to turn the locked out machine on.

    They never found out who did it.

    --

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    ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
  11. Re:This might explain why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I understand that the bands used for radar and rock bands overlap. Is that correct?

  12. Re:must accept? by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just the opposite; it means shielding is your only recourse.

    In other words, "If you don't like it, lump it" (I think that's how the old saying goes), or "this is the world's smallest violin...", but in legalese.

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    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  13. Re:This might explain why by cmallinson · · Score: 3, Funny
    BMW keys are switching over to 415MHz right now.

    So all we have to do is buy a new BMW to avoid this government inflicted inconvienience? What's all the fuss about then?

  14. Re:This might explain why by Desert+Raven · · Score: 3, Funny

    So all we have to do is buy a new BMW to avoid this government inflicted inconvienience?

    Yup, the government forced the garage door companies and the auto companies to use a frequency band that was already assigned to the military as the primary user. Yup, it's a conspiracy all right.

    Wanker.

  15. Re:This might explain why by Ancil · · Score: 5, Funny

    peak pulse power levels around 1 GWatt!
    Careful with that thing. 210 MWatts more, and you could end up in the year 1955 making out with your Mom.