Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

France to Allow Cell Phone Jamming

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the au-contraire dept.

ZuperDee writes "According to this article, the French industry minister has approved a decision to allow cinemas, concert halls and theaters to install cell phone jammers, on the condition that emergency calls can still get through."

4 of 866 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Emergency Calls? by famebait · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, GSM jammers of this type work by impersonating the local base stations by responding before them, but not actually letting anything through.

    The systems have been available for a few years,
    and are apparently very good at blocking out only a well defined area. The stumbling blocks have been entirely legal/regulatory.

    I don't know if the available equipment handles it already, but there is no technical reason why the jammer couldn't engage slightly more thoroughly in the transaction and forward select calls.

    --
    sudo ergo sum
  2. Re:Emergency Calls? by leonmergen · · Score: 5, Informative
    No it's not. It's irritating when the same (kind of) people always leave their mobiles running, the hip, young, gadget people having their latest top40 tune as their ring tone... now really, when some kind of polyphonic f*cked up version of Usher or whatever starts blasting at way-too-loud volume through a room, or even a cinema, i'm irritated. I turn my mobile off so I won't disturb anyone, I expect the same from others.

    Is it really necessary to be reachable while you're at the cinema ? No. And if it is necessary, you shouldn't be at the cinema.

    --
    - Leon Mergen
    http://www.solatis.com
  3. Re:Emergency Calls? by CountBrass · · Score: 5, Informative

    Trivial. The same way that you handle calls in a large shopping mall or other localised concentration of people. You setup a micro-cell. The difference is the one in the cinema will only route emergency calls; the rest get a recorded message saying "fuck off you sad bastards: try watching the film." QED.

    --
    Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  4. Performer's perspective by kottos · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think that this is great. I'm a classically trained musician and a sound engineer so I spend a lot of time either performing or recording concerts. When I'm onstage, I'm already a bundle of nerves and have to concentrate like hell for fear of messing up. Whenever I hear a phone go off, it is very distracting. I can ignore it and carry on, but it does throw you for a moment. 99% of the time it won't result in any audible wobble, but if it happens at the wrong time it can throw you completely and you screw up bigtime. When I'm recording, it is even worse. Even if somebody has their phone on silent but are sitting close enough to some of the gear, you can get the lovely du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-duuuuuuuuuu sound captured in your recording. Again, this happens very rarely, but when it does I have to be physically restrained... I also lecture at a university - whenever students use their phone in class, it shows a distinct lack of respect for me and for the other students, some of whom are finding it difficult enough to follow the course content as it is.