France to Allow Cell Phone Jamming

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."

Comments

Emergency Calls?

[SultanCemil]

How do they allow emergency calls through? Aren't most cell jammers simply frequency based white noise generators?

Re:Emergency Calls?

[mmonkey]

I'm just guessing here, but maybe they could have an on-site picocell or something which the phones will associate with, and then control which calls the cell lets through? Just a thought.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[mind21_98]

I guess one way you can do it is by setting up a repeater inside the theater, and setting it up to only allow emergency calls. The phones should use the repeater instead of any outside signal because it's stronger. Problem solved.

However, it's probably easier to just use the white noise generator, at the expense of emergency calls.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[rishistar]

A mobile going off is not like coughing or sneezing - its more like someone getting up and humming a TV theme song.

And when it goes off in class it usually takes 20 seconds to be turned off as the person hunts around in their bag to find the stupid thing in the first place.

When I was lecturing I had a simple if your phone goes off it gets confiscated until the end of the lecture policy - after week one of that noone left it on.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[imr]

Devedjian is one of the 3 persons that voted yes to software patents in behalf of France and contrary to every promises Chirac made at the last europeen software patent meeting.
Let him be not forgotten.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[senatorpjt]

I've had problems with this in the past. If I actually remember to turn my phone off when I enter a theatre, I forget to turn it back on when I leave. I've had fairly serious things happen, such as my friend trying to call me when his brother died because he needed help moving the body. I eventually just set my phone to beep once. What is slashdot's opinion on this? It's set to beep fairly loudly, but it's a quick, short beep. By the time you notice it, it's already over, so I don't think it's in the same league as a phone blaring "Hey Ya" for 45 seconds while someone searches for the button to make it stop.

I'd like to see an option for a "quiet zone signal", which would be a small transmitter put in places like movie theatres, etc, and phones could be equipped with an option to go into silent mode when the signal is present. It would be dirt-cheap to implement from the theatre's end.. it could probably be done for less than $100. The only problem is that everyone would need a new phone. Of course, the way people go through phones these days, if they started implementing this now, most people would have it on their phones in a couple years.

I really think that 99% of people that have their phones start ringing in a movie are embarrassed, and not just trying to piss everyone off - they just forgot to turn the phone off. This way, people could just have this setting enabled on their phone and not have to worry about it.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Kombat]

I eventually just set my phone to beep once. What is slashdot's opinion on this? It's set to beep fairly loudly, but it's a quick, short beep.

Don't all cell phones have a "vibrate" mode?

Re:Emergency Calls?

[ViolentGreen]

Not all, but most do. Even then, I often forget to turn it off of vibrate when I get home and take it out of my pocket. It is my primary phone and it's easy to miss calls if it's on vibrate and not in my pocket.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Midnight Thunder]

Still this only works when sombody calls the emergency number. However there could be someone in the cinema like a surgeon who needs to be able to receive emergency calls! Such a basestation would not recognize such calls.

I suppose one solution to this would be to leave the phone with the cinema and the cinema provides a vibrate only pager. Only the pager would be able to receive a notification. When you're finished you exchange the pager for your cell phone. Those who need to be contacted would be willing to go the extra step.

In a place like a theatre or concert hall you could either have the same solution or notify the hospital before you go in of the theatre's number and your seat number. That way they can contact the theatre and the staff would send someone to get you.

The simplest solution would simply to not go out when you're on call. The only catch some people are on call so frequently that this would simply deprive them of a social life.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Pieroxy]

You are missing the point. The point is not only in movie theaters. Schools, Operas, Concerts, real theaters, etc...

And if people are too stupid to remember to turn their cells off (and apparently they are), then I want to go to a theater where they have no choice. So that I am _sure_ I will not be bothered (at least by that). That is still a little less disturbance.

People will eventually be divided in three categories:
1. The people that don't care, which I suspect will be the vast majority
2. The people that want Phone Jams installed in their favorite theater and that are willing to change theater for that reason.
3. People that want no cell jams.

The ratio between 2 and 3 will rule the implementation of these little things. I am in 2.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[TGK]

There is an easy way to implement that. A professor of mine had the following line in his syllabus.

"If your cell phone rings during class or during an examination I will answer it. Further, I will deduct five points from your final grade."

A phone went off once in that class. He told the caller in no uncertain terms where the cell phone being called was located and informed them that future calls to that number should be avoided during his class.

He also followed through on the grade policy. It was never a problem again.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Civil_Disobedient]

Everyone gets all up in arms when some big mean company tries to restrict 802.11b, [...] but when the *movie theaters* start jamming cell phone tranmissions, it's suddenly a great idea? I don't get it.

Don't be so damned obtuse. Of course you "get it." Cell phones make noise. The wireless aether doesn't.

Now, if people started bringing their PDA's along with them to theaters to play loud or obnoxious games on them while paying customers were trying to watch a movie, you can be sure they'd try and block 802.11b as well.

Don't like it? Tough shit. Why not encourage a whole new line of theaters that are "cell phone friendly" to give your patronage to?

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then the babysitter does what we did before mobile phones, and calls the cinema. The cinema then gets a couple of ushers to quickly look through the cinema and get your attention.

This might cause a bigger disturbance than a mobile phone ringing, but it is far less common, and less annoying.

In fact, something like this happened at my local cinema last time I was there. I guess either the moviegoers didn't have a phone, or they had them switched off (as you are supposed to do).

Re:Emergency Calls?

[DarkAdonis]

I imagine a ringing cell phone is frustrating for the professor giving the lecture. Perhaps other students in the class are irritated as well. The fact is that in certain situations, the ring of a cell phone is annoying and distracting for many people. I know of a judge who has a rule in his courtroom that states that he will confiscate any cell phones that ring in his courtroom. I imagine you get the phone back at the end of the proceedings, but I'm sure anyone who reads this rule posted on his door thinks twice about leaving their cell phone on or in ring mode.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Anonymous Coward]

So the FCC is too busy filtering boobies on TV than preventing mobile phone interfering with earing aids?

Fuck that! It's not MY DUTY to make sure my appliances does not interfer with yours. We even paid extra taxes on purchase to let FCC supposedly do their job. Now if you got a beef, complain to the FCC, not to me.

And as to running the risk of having my face punched if my phone rings. What if I tell you that him a police technician that doesn't need a squad car waiting on a street corner, that I'm called only in emergencies. Try to punch me in the face and win a free trip to pound-me-it-the-ass prison. Think twice before you try to enforce your own imaginary rules to others, it could back fire at you.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[13thirteen]

When my husband and I go to movies (which isn't very often, frankly, because of people talking during movies) we both turn our cell phones to vibrate. If we get a call, we shield the display to see who it is, immediately hitting the 'silence' button.

I would love it if we could turn in our cell phones, but we need to be able to screen out the non-emergency calls without having to leave the theatre (we would probably each have to leave at least three times - we use our cell phones for our business, plus we have parents that don't really understand that a two-hour movie really takes two-and-a-half hours, so they call back during the last few minutes of the movie), but be able to leave if we get a call indicating that our son (or someone else) requires immediate attention.

I've found most people are polite with their cell phones in the theatre proper. Walking over and standing directly in front of someone talking on their cell phone in a theatre is usually a good way to get them to stop. My pet peeve is the people who think that because they are standing in the entryway of the theatre (inside the doors) they can have a cell phone conversation. Sound carries incredibly well from that area, and it is incredibly annoying that the person is chattering away, loudly and obliviously, for a long time.

next, the cafes and restaurants

[davejenkins]

It will be a short hop from here to allowing any business the right to install a cell-phone jammer. Restuarants and certain cafes in the Latin Quarter will jump at the chance to push out that vile modern convenience.

Pretty soon, we will see little icons in windows:
*WiFi ici!
or
*cell non!

I'm packing my bags

[Magickcat]

If they eventually include art galleries, libraries and restaurants, then I'm packing my bags.

I've seen a person unabashedly use a mobile at a church funeral service. Perhaps churches would be keen on them, however in Australia, most church steeples are used as mobile antennas. In many cases, the cross on the steeple is disguised to match the original building's features.

If I was an alien, I'd probably assume that God had a mobile phone.

So dumb, when we resort to technology

[tod_miller]

Instead of education.

This will not stop idiots who have a 50,000 ansi lumens bright display playing some dumb-ass mobile game right in the corner of your eye when watching a movie (wtf, why did they go to the cinema?)

Also, those stupid giggly-bitches who laugh/scream/cry at the dumbest of moments, or who have not left the house for months on end, and the cinema is their biggest social event, and they catch up on all the gossip until about 10 minutes into the start of the film, at which point the hushes from other cinema goers has long since drowned out thier mind numbing dialogue.

The worst, when the stupid do not use your mobile advert comes on (Orange has some great ones - but trigger happy tv should be commissioned to do them worldwide) people take out thier mobile, check for messages, and then slide them back, not even switching them.

Or if they are on silent, they bloody answer them and talk in that hushed-shouting whisper that is actually about 50 decibels above normal talking.

Using technology to enforce peoples social awareness is lame. Just make it legal to hit them repeatedly with a length of lead piping until they learn.

Re: So dumb, when we resort to technology

[gidds]

You DON'T have any right to 24/7 cell access

I'm not suggesting that mobile access be a right. Just that there should be a more important reason for jamming it than just "It gives some people an excuse to make a nuisance of themselves."

Of course people shouldn't rely on their phones for anything absolutely vital. Coverage can be lost due to intervening architecture, weather, or heavy use by others. Batteries run out. Networks go down. And so on. You can't assume you'll be in coverage in restaurants, cinemas, or anywhere else.

But the 'Jam them' reaction makes me very uncomfortable. Have we become so intolerant of others that anything we don't personally like should be banned? Do we want to live in a society where we're only allowed to do things if everyone explicitly agrees?

Remember: you can't force people to be nice to each other. You can only encourage them by example, and where necessary punish gross infringements.

Jamming phones is a coward's way out. If people are making a nuisance of themselves, then ask them to stop it, or have them thrown out. After all, that's what would happen if people spoke loudly to their neighbours in a theatre; why should speaking loudly into a phone be any different? If a kid takes in a handheld game that makes loud beeping noises, then it should be removed or disabled; again, why it different if a phone makes loud noises? Just because something's technically possible doesn't make it a good solution.

Jamming treats people like children. It effectively says "Since some of you aren't using their phones responsibly, we'll stop anyone using one." And, like many other childish reactions, it doesn't teach people anything. If someone got bounced out from using their phone inconsiderately, then they'd learn something from that! But is it right to punish the majority because of a small minority of inconsiderate people?

As I said, it's exactly the same argument as for P2P. In fact, more so -- if you believe the figures, then the vast majority of P2P traffic is illegal, whereas it's only a minority of mobile users who behave obnoxiously. Most people argue that the former should be allowed for the small proportion of legitimate traffic; yet you're asking to jam phones where a much larger proportion of use is considerate!

I understand why you're sick of obnoxious bastards using their phones offensively, and I share your feelings. I just think that jamming is the wrong solution. Use your feelings in a constructive manner! Stand up and tell someone that they're disturbing everyone! If you want to say a big 'Screw you' to them, then do so -- to their faces, loudly and publicly! If necessary, threaten to stick the phone somewhere anatomically impossible! (Seriously. I expect you'll get cheers from most of those around you.)

Rudeness is the problem, so fight rudeness. Don't fight phones, otherwise the rest of us will suffer, and rude people will just find some other way to be obnoxious!

You can

[caitsith01]

Contrary to other replies, you can actually do this. I imagine it's some sort of flag built into the GSM system that forces handsets not to function.

The reason I know you can do it is that there is an area in the building I used to work where signals are intentionally blocked somehow, and my phone comes up with "Emergency Calls Only" when I am in that area.

Re:You can

[SmilingBoy]

The reason I know you can do it is that there is an area in the building I used to work where signals are intentionally blocked somehow, and my phone comes up with "Emergency Calls Only" when I am in that area.

Doesn't it show this in some countries if you have only reception from other operators than your own? (At least that's what I remember from the time I lived in the UK.)

Re:Yes!

[luvirini]

Well, I agree on most of these, but not the public transporation part. One of the specific reasons I took often public transportation when in my previous job, was that I could work while traveling, I had my laptop open, and was actually handling email and then making occasional simple calls and such. Now travel with car is just waste of time.

Jam at the network level

[jolyonr]

The best way to do this is to jam at the network level. Rather than having a jammer installed in these places, you actually get the networks to install a short-range cell transmitter/receiver in the building (would need to be carefully placed). The network would control this, so that when a phone is connected via that cell, incoming calls won't get connected (except with operator intervention, so that emergency call you're worried about will get through), but emergency calls can still be made.

In places where there are a great number of cells already, it may even be possible for the networks to triangulate positions, and stop reception of non-emergency calls when they can see that the cellphone is currently within an area on their 'quiet' list.

Best of all (for the networks), they get to be in control and charge for the service.

Jolyon

ps. Somebody print this out and keep it in the Prior Art folder just incase someone tries to get rich :)

How this can be done technically

[Anonymous Coward]

For all those who are wondering how this can be done technically, here is a possible solution:

Install a picocell in the theater. Jam all GSM/GPRS/UMTS frequencies except for the one used by that picocell. Give that cell its own network id and accept roaming from any other operator network, but only let emergency calls through.

What the users would see when the enter the theater is exactly the same thing as if they were roaming to another country. The phone would display "emergency calls only" and would display the id of the theater (or the company providing the jamming equipment) instead of the usual id of the operator that user is subscribed to.

Re:First Post?

[Poppageorgio]

If you're life is that important, rent a movie and stay home. Why should I be inconvenienced by your need to take calls? I go to movies because, for two hours, I don't have to deal with real life and become immersed in another time or place. I don't like it when somebody interrupts this for me.

emergency

[PerlDudeXL]

In germany the firefighters (usually two fireman walking around and taking care that everything is fine) have to attend theater performances in case of some emergency. I'm almost sure france as similar regulations. Cinemas are something different, but the personal can make emergency calls using conventional phones.

My cell phone doesn't even work in the local cinema. I don't get a signal. and why should I take my cell phone anyway to a movie theater?

In the meantime, in China...

[Enoch Root]

I live in Shanghai and I don't even bother turning off my cellphone when I go to the movies. Why should I? Nobody does it. Not only that, but if the movie is really exciting, they won't even pick it up until the really exciting part is over. And when they do, they'll walk to the back of the theater and speak on the phone from there, yelling so they can be heard above the noise of the movie.

Unfortunately, even if they DID install scramblers, it wouldn't prevent all the people from explaining the movie to their neighbors. Sigh. :)

Here in Denmark ...

[zonix]

In (most) Danish cinemas, just after the trailers and before the movie starts, there's a little funny reminder for people who forgot to turn off or silence their mobiles. It's actually a commercial - a joint effort by various mobile phone service providers.

The lights are dimmed and the screen is completely black. Suddenly a phone rings in some corner of the cinema, only it's not a phone, it's actually coming from the surround sound speakers. One of the commercials has one of those annoyoing teenage girls answering the phone - you know, the kind who is blabbering on and on about everything with one of her friends. :-)

It's very humerous and convincing at the same time. Of course in the end the reminder on the screen tells you to turn of the phone.

IMO, this is great way to handle the issue.

z

Re:Faraday cage, anybody?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah, as far as doctors being on 24-7 call missing their major emergency call, there's so many other ways they can miss such a call daily (on the toilet, having a shower, under a tunnel, out of batteries, whaterver) I am 100% certain the hospital has a backup plan (ie: Call another doctor).

Actually, most specialties that people are on 'home call' for (aren't taking call from the hospital) usually have only one person on call. And this is at relatively large academic institutions. If people don't return a page promptly, they are usually paged again, then called at whatever secondary contact number (usually a cell phone) is listed.

Now, most one way pagers won't be affected by this blocking. The questions is, will two way pagers which, I believe and may be wrong, use the same band as cell phones, be affected? In that case, you will have problems, and there will be a delay in response.

Re:Who needs to be contacted 24/7?

[Anonymous Coward]

Many, many people do. I am a funeral director, I am on call 24/7. Yes, I know, you are all saying, so what if a guy is dead, he is not going anywhere. That's exactly right - and the next time you are stuck in traffic for a few hours on a highway because somebody was killed, just remember, you are stuck there because ME - the guy who actually comes to pickup the body form the place of death (outside of major cities, it's all us little guys who do the hands on work) cannot make it ther eon time because my cell phone is jammed.
What did we do before cell phones? We had pages - when they worked, but more importantly, we never, and i mean never, went to restaurants, theatres, ball games, nothing. The advent of th ecell phone meant we coudl live like the res tof society for the first time in our lives, or so it seemed.
It is not jsut me - many two ytruck operators are smnall, self employed buisness people who work on call, even if that means through the night. Was your house damged in one of he recent hurricanes that swept through Florida? Many small contractors who work on emergency call basis - such as replacing that glass window at 2:00 am after a break in - you got it - on call, 24/7, using a cell phone.
How about yoru local plumber on emergency call? You may think this is a joke, but wait until your sewer backups in the middle of the nigh or on a holiday weekend,a ndyou ahve 2 feet osewage inyrou basement that needs to be removed NOW. You will be very grateful that ht eplumber has a cell phone. Imagine if his/her cell phone were jammed because he decided to take whis wife out to dinner for thier anniversary. Yes, these things do happen - I had to cancel our 19th wedding anniversary dinner this year because I got called in.
Remember people, outisde of large, urban centres, most on-call or night work is covered by small companies or self employed individuals who place themselves on call 24/7 because ther eis simply no one else to do the job. So if you are a police officer, a lawyer (criminal lawyers are on call 24/7 fro example), any sort of emergency respone personell - fire, ambulance, paramedic, etc, contractor, plumber, tow truck operator - well,t he list goes on and on.
All of these people have individual on call 24/7. All of these popel never take regular days off, never get statutory holidays, never get time off that the rest of ht eworld takes for granted or some sort of God given right. The only way many of these people ever get to spend an evening with their kids watching "Spiderman 2" at the theatre is because we have cell phones.

Which leads me to one, main question .

My cell phone is always, always set to vibrate. I NEVER set it to ring. When a call does come in, I excuse myself from the theatre, and answer the call in the thatre lobby. Why doesn't everybody else do the same thing? Simple, common sense.

Necessity

[Tom]

Very good. A step into the right direction.

Funny coincidence, I've started shopping for a jammer today. Yesterday's train ride was the final drop. When will people learn that your private interest is not more important than the comfort of the 50 other people on the train?

I would expect that people talking on the phone in a crowded, public place would at least have the basic courtesy of not speaking twice as loud as everyone else.

And it's not like it's impossible or hard to do. I was in Tokyo last year, and while everyone there has a cell phone, I never, ever, found anyone using it in an obnoxious way. There were no loud rings, and people talking on the cell phone talked to quiet that they were no disturbance even to those standing nearby.

All it takes is a little respect for your fellow humans.

Until then, I want my jammer.

Why not do the opposite of jamming?

[RedLaggedTeut]

Why not do the opposite, install a cell repeater station that fakes a call to every cell phone that is switched on, with the message (voice+SMS) "Please turn off your mobile phone. Seems you forgot to turn it off. Thank you."

As a movie operator, check now that all in the audience have turned their mobiles off( no ringing anymore).

As the audience, "ask politely" that people with mobiles on turn them off.

So people can still receive SMS and voice, but switch off the signal and switch on the vibration alert.

Re:I for one really welcome this.

[Technician]

My old boss told me of a pub he visited. The policy was to leave the outside behind. Right beside the door was a cell phone nailed to the wall with a very large nail. The message was clear. If your phone rings, it goes next to the first one.

Re:First Post?

[swillden]

The obvious thing to say would be "And before pagers?"

Before pagers people called the theater and the manager or an usher came into the theater to find you. Hopefully, you told the manager this might be an issue so he could see where you sat. I was in a couple movies when I was young where the theater got an emergency call and stopped the film and turned the lights on so the manager could announce the names of the people who had an emergency phone call.

A vibrating cell phone and a small lighted screen are much, much better. For everyone.

Why must people make this so complicated?

[Guppy06]

1. Vibrate--Nobody else should ever know that your cell phone is ringing, ever.
2. Caller ID--If the call isn't from a number that you know a truly important call would be coming from, don't answer it. For paranoid parents, if the call isn't from your home number, it's not the babysitter.
3. Voicemail--If it's important, they'll leave voicemail. If you're really that freakin' curious, you can check your voicemail without anybody else in the room knowing you're listening to your voicemail (don't talk, just push buttons).

Am I the only person to figure this chain out?

411 on the 911

[Doc Ruby]

This rule is a great boon not only for silencing the cellphone yahoos that I routinely eject, physically, from movie theaters here in NYC. It also creates a new class of incoming emergency calls. Now the State is no longer the only entity privileged to receive emergency calls.

Of course, we're all paying jacked up prices to the State for "911" service, most of which is sucked out to pay for other pork^Wnecessary projects. Incoming emergency calls should cost $5:call, covered by the recipient's insurance in the event of an actual emergency.

Even these calls shouldn't just ring out publicly in the venue. One person's emergency is another person's irritating conversation about whether to pick up a loaf of bread on the way home. All these jammers ought to set all phones to silent/vibrate, and allow emergency calls to vibrate for 30 seconds, then ring out loud for another 30s if unanswered at first. If the call is about groceries, maybe their insurance will cover them when I "help them out of their seats" to tend their "emergency".

Re:How lame can you get?

[megarich]

Good "mature" come back.

Anyhow, its the movie theatres RIGHT, yup that's right RIGHT to do what they want with their OWN establishment. Wether you like it or not its not important, what's important they can do it, they can get away with it, and one way or the other you/we whoever is gonna have to live with that decision.

Somehow...

[SquierStrat]

Somehow, I'm not upset. Wish they'd do it here! I'm sick of going to a movie and some 12 year old starts having a cell phone coversation in the middle of the freakin movie! I don't see where it's even an issue...just tell the customers you're doing it before hand and if they don't like it, then go away.