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Wireless Invention Jams Teen Drivers' Cell Calls
alphadogg writes "University of Utah researchers have invented technology that could come to be embraced by teenagers with the same enthusiasm they have for curfews and ID checks. And like those things, it could save their lives. Key2SafeDriving technology uses RFID or Bluetooth wireless capabilities to issue signals from car keys to cell phones to prevent drivers from talking on their phones or texting while driving. A company called Accendo LC of Kaysville, Utah has licensed the technology and is working to build it into commercial devices that could be on the market next year. The company is sorting out how to bring the technology to market, but one possibility is that it would be made available through cell phone service companies and could also be tied in with insurance companies, which might offer discounts for users."
Because I can think of a few adults that could use such a device!
"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."
so can any passenger in car use mobile phone?
So if she is carjacked and raped, at least the assailant won't be burning up her Roll Over minutes!!
And it's raspberry!
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Just ban cellphone use in cars.
We're going to end up there anyway...
Great, now we're going to have people texting with their arms outside the window.
The technology to jam cell phones sounds pretty boring, but I am VERY interested in the technology to determine if the driver is a teen or not.
The invention does not jam the cell it activates software. This is entirely different as a signal that jams the cell would cause the cell battery to run down early and will also disrupt nearby driver's conversations and signals. Not to mention jamming would be illegal.
I disagree; this is actually pretty cool... and I'll tell you why I feel that way:
If it just worked, I'd be amazed at the results, follow the discoveries. But there's something about it NOT working that reminds me this is the "cutting edge of the cutting edge".
This is when the rocket launch explodes on the pad, this is when the systems fail... and it shouts "humanity is working outside its limits, and we're pushing those limits every time we do something like this". I dig it when the REALLY REALLY smart people have issues with something... usually that's very cool stuff.
I should say when they have trouble with 'cell phones/jammers/technical/physics/electronics' kind of stuff. Not with women. We know they have trouble there already.... ;-)
Anything that interferes with somebody's ability to dial 911 on a phone will be shot to pieces by the FCC.
The product is dead in the water.
The Yasashii Syndicate ||
This is not a jammer, it is a bluetooth device.
They would have to be idiots to lock out 911.
Even phones that you have lying around without an active subscription can make 911 calls.
The car sends a signal to software on the phone that disables texting and calling any non-approved numbers. 911 is enabled by default and the parents can set further phone numbers which can be called.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Why allow anyone to access his or her cell phone in the car, whether or not they are a teen? Better yet, let's put breathalyzers in all cars to prevent all drunk driving. Let's have RFID chips in everyone's drivers license and make sure only those insured and registered on a vehicle are driving the car. Hey, if you aren't breaking the law then you have nothing to worry about, right? Yeah...going down the path of "safety" is a scary thing.
"Engineering. Where the noble, semi-skilled laborers execute the vision of those who think and dream." -Sheldon
Apparently nobody bothered reading the article. The device is coupled with the cellphone and is provided by the cellphone company. It doesn't jam the phone it simply tells the phone not to make or receive calls. It does allow 911 calls.
Hopefully it will block outgoing calls after an accident as well!
When I first read the title I immediately assumed they'd discovered how to determine age accurately and remotely.
Imagine, street lights that emit signals that jam cell calls if angst is detected.
Why not do what r2rknot said and mandate it for everyone? I live at the intersection of 2 roads that each go directly to the main entrance of 3 of the most populous central florida colleges and I find myself shouting "hang up and drive" almost exclusively at people who look to be in their mid 30s at least. Then again it IS a lot easier to just blame everything bad that happens on the road on teens and their terrible teen driving with teen cellphone use and teen teening teenager teen teening teenagers...
It occurs to me that if we stopped doing everything in our power to keep them from getting any experience driving or learning to drive safely that they might actually be better drivers. I can't be the only one that thinks that shite simulators, mandatory "here watch these gory movies" classes that make up drivers ed, and the flailing screaming fits of parents in the passenger seat that pass for practice are counter-productive to the desire for better teen drivers.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Try reading the article next time. This is a willingly used device. It also doesn't jam signals in any manner you are speaking of.
You must be new here...
I thought we might actually have to raise our kids right. Thank God for this technology!! Now I can ignore my kids again.
this is a really really DUMB idea... because there is no way it will work... what happens if they turn bluetooth off on their phone? what about a second phone? you would have to pair the phone to the car no matter what tech you use so that it doesnt stop other peoples phones (passengers, drivers in other cars, people walking by)
basically people will just use it to get a discount on insurance then just use a different phone, hell the savings on insurance may be close to paying for basic service or some prepaid minutes, then you will have MORE kids with cellphones... again DUMB IDEA. theres no real way to implement it. its the real world equivalent of digital copy protection, it will always be defeated, and all the time making it wasted...
Good thing no teenager is tech-savvy enough to bypass this. I hear they're working on a porn filter next.
I'm reasonably sure these guys have thought of at least that. I'm still not sure it's a useful idea, but I doubt that particular objection will hold.
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
So the key sheath what sends the signal... meaning that it's going to be extra expensive to lose/break/etc?
It seems to depend on a lot of factors that aren't going to go over very well:
a) You need the key
b) You need a supported phone
c) You need your phone tied to the key
d) The auto-response feature won't work against landlines or phones that don't support texting (in the ad it shows a text message).
Overall, it generally looks really fucking irritating. I avoid the phone when possible if I'm in the car, but there can be reasons to make a call when stopped etc (running late) or to receive calls in an emergency.
The question of "what if it's a business call" and the answer of "it'll text the caller that you're driving" isn't going to go over very well, nor it is going to when your mother calls 5-min in to say "your dad is in the hospital" while you're headed out to a 4h drive...
I was once reared ended by a guy who stopped his phone conversation just long enough to say those scratches on his bumper are from the last person he ran into. Some people never learn!
Think Deeply.
They could disable the phone itself through Bluetooth, thus bypassing any FCC regulations. It is equivocal to a parent turning off a child's video games at times when they should be doing homework. The phone still works for 911, just not anything else.
It doesn't jam anything. The phones would simply have a "drive mode" built in which would send incoming calls to voice mail and reply to texts with a message such as "I'm driving, ttyl". This mode would be activated via bluetooth or RF by the key fob.
That's the first I've seem about it since [b]V[/b]. Security saves lives. Properly trained, and armed law enforcements have the possibility to save lives. Curfew, not.
--- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"
Even if 911 is allowed, other highly relevant calls cannot be made.
This is like speed bumps: sounds good, until the ambulance or cop can't get to you in time because they have to go from 50 to 5 MPH periodically in the area, or can't move because they bottomed out the vehicle after hitting one at 50 after not seeing it.
How about facing the reality that bad things happen to stupid people doing stupid things, and teach kids to not be stupid? Proactively blocking their every move because they might do something dumb does not turn them into responsible adults.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Good THING it's not a jamming DEVICE which you WOULD know if YOU read more than THE headline.
Assuming it works properly.
So the biggest problem I see with this is that it essentially requires the driver to voluntarily use a matching key and cell phone that are sold as a set.
If the driver were going to voluntarily not talk on the cell phone, they could just not do it and save the money.
If you give this to a teenager and think this means they won't be texting or talking on a cell phone while driving, you need to spend more time with teenagers. As soon as there's another person with a cell phone in the car with them, they can borrow that cell phone to talk or text. If they're more devious (and have the money), they'll just get themselves another cell phone. If they really want to talk or text while driving, they will. This isn't going to stop them unless they're all alone in the car and very conscientious to begin with.
Giving it to adults as some sort of insurance incentive? That's a laugh. Adults are even worse than kids about working the system.
Between Ford making them slow down and stuff like this new adult will not know how to be responsible for anything. Never mind that schemes like this are doomed to failure as hacks for them reverberate around the Internet.
you know what? this is a good thing
having your life taken away by a teenager yakking on their cellphone is a much greater impingement on your freedom
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Will wreck their cars while messing around with their cell phone trying to get a good signal?
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Wouldn't it make more sense to allow these people to kill themselves rather than thinking up a bunch of ways to prevent it? You know they are just going to figure out a different way to get themselves killed anyway. I think the time and money would be better spent thinking up a bunch of ways to help protect innocent bystanders.
That locks them out of the car altogether, say, until they turn 30?
How hard is it to ignore a phone? Let it ring until you can pull over and call them back. It works for me.
Please cite some examples of situations where 911 is not appropriate but yet you must make a phone call while driving? A call so important (but not important enough for 911) that it will actually make you safer if you do it while you are still driving instead of pulling to the side of the road or waiting for a stoplight.
That's all fine and good until stupid people start killing innocent people. The problem is that they often bring other people into the equation.
From TFA:
Take out the key, you can use your phone. I think this is a fine notion for all cars, though teens are generally more trouble behind the wheel.
How many times do you need to _keep_on_driving_ while on the phone? 911 is probably it, and even then, unless someone's attacking you and you flee in your car, you should probably be pulled over while on the phone.
The only problem is that this means no one in the car can use their phone. If a passenger is texting or on the phone, not such a big deal, and it could be more helpful (say, getting directions). I'll say from personal experience, it's a lot easier to pull over and really figure out where you are, instead of trying to drive, read street signs, and figure out where to go while on the phone.
It's like you're stupid or something. The device has zero jamming capability. None. It can't jam a toilet let alone a cell phone. It's just a system that allows the phone to know it's in the car and the car is on. So the phone refuses calls. If it fails the only thing that will happen is they'll be able to make calls. Jesus.
I will only be satisfied when cell phone jamming makes my cell phone ooze strawberry jam.
-Hey,our cell phone has been jammed.
-What kind of jam?
-Tastes like strawberry, sir.
-Strawberry jam? Theres only one man that uses strawberry jam. LONESTAR!!!
Bet they believe the TSA keeps us safe too.
I've got a bridge to sell them.
Or you could, you know, trust your kids.
Do parents even do that anymore?
I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
Learn from the Shareware model - disabling causes people to uninstall, annoy them enough and they behave as desired to make it stop. So embarrass/annoy them into not using the phone while driving - embed a recording saying "Johnny is being a bad boy by talking on his phone while driving" every 1-2 minutes or add this to whatever text messages he sends. (also sending email notification to parents when this message plays/copying all text messages sent while driving to the parents). This would allow use in emergencies where health/safety outweigh embarrassment while cracking down on calls to "My BFF Jill", etc.
Has nobody done the trick of freezing someone's keys? (put in water, then in freezer?)
disabling this thing would be real easy.. at that point, why even get it? just trust the kids to not be idiots.
Why not provide a speech-to-text interface for phones, so people don't have to go hands on? Phones are getting ever more powerful, and my old Motorola RAZR has rudimentary speech recognition (quite inaccurate, I might add).
Because of the way people text, it's easy to encode speech into a text message. For instance, homonyms won't be a problem -- to, two, and too can all be the numeral 2. This reduces the processing required. Also, and this may be a problem in an of itself, the teens could speak their text language directly the to phone, using acronyms and non-standard parts of speech that the phone is programmed to recognize, furthering accuracy in the realm we are assuming.
OR, for christ's sake, use the goddamn voice communication feature of the device whilst piloting a large chunk of metal at high speeds.
Disabling the phone's functions is a cop out way of solving this problem. The problem is an inefficient technology exists for communication, and it NEEDS to be replaced with something that isn't completely stupid and costly by nature.
"If they're more devious (and have the money), they'll just get themselves another cell phone."
Are the cars using an ignition system that *requires* one of these special keys to even start the vehicle? If not, and it just happens that the key the folks gave me disables the phone, but a *different* key won't disable the phone, the teen will just spend $5 to have another, old-fashioned key made.
I'm all for being safer and such, but come on...what ever happened to personal responsibility?
Besides...it sounds like you could just get another key for $1 and put it in the device, thereby fooling it into thinking it's wrapped around a car key. And my car key already has a plastic chunk around it anyway. That little "key holder" won't fit on my key to begin with.
The tag "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" is so right. Too bad we can't mod tags up.
Cell phones can be used for emergencies.
Worse yet, this does NOT solve any problem. If teens aren't smart enough to not use a cell phone from driving, maybe they shouldn't be driving in the first place.
C. H. O'D. Alexander snuck in by mistake.
They're Rollin' ... they're Hatin' ... ...
Tryin' to catch me Drivin' Stupid
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
As far as I'm concerned, no one should be using their phone whilst driving (unless they're calling emergency services). Being in control of a car demands your full attention, if a call is that important, pull over and stop.
But does it run Linux
I wouldn't say "nobody". These devices generally never block 911.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
a) You need the key
b) You need a supported phone
c) You need your phone tied to the key
Why not use the accelerometer or gps every phone has nowadays to do a simple: "if speed > X: disable txt and restrict calls to specific numbers".
Now, where's my patent and millions of dollars?
One obvious and MUCH MUCH safer implementation. Would be a phone log, one that added a note beside the call if it occurred on a road. Jamming or blocking calls is stupid and dangerous.
I'm thinking just turn off the bluetooth. I'm a teen (soon to be driving) and although I wouldn't use my cell in the car anyways (I'm in California, it's law) I'm sure I or any of my friends could bypass this device. Also, I'm guessing to program a number into the key you'll have a USB cable and some software (that would be the smart way to do it). I'll install the stuff on my computer and enter all my friend's numbers, my parents won't find out unless they're calling my friends from the car.
make this mandatory for taxi drivers then we'll be heading in the right direction.
Blazing Spiders
I've seen people forget to turn their cars off after having an accident. I imagine when you're in shock, in a confused state, you'd be utterly befuddled about why your cellphone isn't working.
"Whether he went on with the text, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Police would get him just the same. He had committed - would still have committed, even if he had never set the fingers to the keypad - the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Texting While Driving, they called it. Texting While Driving was not a thing that could be concealed forever."
Are passengers cell phones blocked as well? This seems like another stupid idea to stop someone from harming themselves when using proper / good judgement would work as well or better. Teach your kid(s) to be responsible and you don't need crap like this. One blocked emergency call could cost a life. It sounds like a VERY bad idea to me.
Be Obscure Clearly
There are visual errors in time as well as in space.
...What's to stop anybody from just un-syncing their phone?
I bet statistically there are more accidents with people who had their car radio on while driving than there are with people using cell phones while driving. So car radios should be made to not turn on if the car is moving? Why stop at cell phones? Let's tell the people / truckers they cannot use their CB radios anymore either. That's just like talking on the phone. Where will it stop? Here is something to think about, "Car accident statistics indicate 98 percent of reported accidents involve a single distracted driver. Rubbernecking was the highest percentage of single distractions, followed by driver fatigue, looking at scenery or landmarks, passenger or child distractions, adjusting the radio or other music form, and cell phone use. While the increase in cell phone use is believed to be a significant contributor to higher car accident statistics, in reality the influence appears just minor."
http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/personal_injury/car/statistics.html
A nice idea, I'd love to see something like this become mandatory for executives and politicians.
However, it is way too easy to circumvent. All you need is to key it to a friends phone instead of yours. Or bet a cheap Trac phone and put $20 on it.
Maybe this would get kids interested in CB Radio or even Amateur Radio.
Sadly, this probably wouldn't have stopped the drunken teen driver who literally drove into the oncoming lane of stopped traffic head on into my family's car a while back. (which left me with a broken neck and paralysis on the left side of my body...) But hey, I'm sure it would've at least ensured I'd be dead by preventing anyone else nearby from actually being able to call 911.
Yes, cellphone's are annoying... especially in the hands of those irresponsible enough not to obey the laws or observe social etiquette in using them. But this idea that we should have the right to jam a cellular signal just because we can do it is just trouble waiting to happen. As it is, we already have enough dead zones for the things... why add to them and further harm the usefulness of a potentially life-saving device?
You know what does make sense to me though? A car setup that can identify whether or not you're too drunk to drive and act in response it!
8==8 Bones 8==8
They can learn! Everybody can learn!
People are "stupid", because they
You can solve all of them trough
The only thing that's still hard to cure are genetic errors. But I trust the method of "infecting" people with modified virii that inject good DNA into cells. Think of a epidemic of something like this. You could cure the world by releasing such a virus into the wild. Just be very, very sure that it has no side-effects. ;)
So if you see someone who is really stupid, and you want to help him, find the *causes* of his stupidity, and fix them. But who am I telling this, when even most doctors don't care for causes anymore... :\
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
So what happens if there is an emergency coming from the other end?
ie. A parent or friend? I guess the death of a loved one will just have to wait til they get to the movie theater.
This is an example of the government being overly protective. If we never let people make mistakes, they'll never learn.
C7 C4 25 8A 11 BB 0D 40 8F 4E 4E 47 CA F0 BE 5B
Don't buy them a car. Don't buy them a cell-phone.
It's that simple.
You guys just don't know much somehow about 95% of gsm(or at least fcc passed) hardware, they already have a some kind of killswitch integrated including base stations remote killswitches.
Of course, if someone has died, the best way to go about things is to tell someone about it whilst they're driving at 70mph, so they can lose their concentration and crash, causing another death. Two birds with one stone eh?
What does this have to do with the government anyway? You really are an ignorant fucker.
"...curfews and ID checks. And like those things, it could save their lives." Fuck off. They're just undeniably control systems, on par with trying to govern morals.
Because she couldn't contact help. Then Nancy Grace's nuclear uterus will erupt with estro-fury.
Most of you are complaining that this is picking on teens, but why? Every teen I see driving is talking on the phone or texting. I see maybe one or two adults per trip that do this...not every single one of them.
A better solution is to ban cell phones altogether for EVERYONE while driving. Some of you are idiotic in your claims that you HAVE to have a cell phone for emergencies. Please, kind slashdotters, tell me what emergency can happen while you are physically controlling a vehicle. If you have an emergency, stop your vehicle and make a call. Is that really hard to undertsand? What kind of milk your wife wants you to pick up from the store is NOT an emergency.
Enforcement would be easy as well. A cop can drive around and spend an entire shift giving out tickets for texting/talking while driving (driving while distracted is a better term, to get those idiots who couldn't get up 5 minutes earlier to shave or put on makeup before going to work). For teens, I say you get a first time $500 ticket (parents won't like that!) and then a second ticket would suspend your license for two years. Adults would just pay out the nose for each offense...say $500 first offense, $1000 the next, $1500 for the third... $50 seat-belt violations don't work because $50 is NOTHING to most people, and it doesn't go on your insurance, so driving while distracted would have to have some real financial pain.
You mount it to your dash, and take your vengeance as you see fit.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
Nope. Unlicensed jamming is a federal crime. I jammed signals for 12 years in the military...not a crime at all.
Nope. Unlicensed jamming of cellphone service is a violation of FCC regs. Having a license to jam makes jamming no longer illegal. I did it for 12 years in the Army...good times!
Hypothetically if I had a cell jammer on my car (which BTW is highly illegal, only presidential convoys get to use them) then no one within say 100 yards of said car would be able to use their cell.
Problem solved, the area around my car is free of cell phone drivers :-p
The way i understand, this would turn any car in a microwave oven? Nice idea. You go.
Hivemind harvest in progress..