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Local Police Want To Jam Wireless Signals

Posted by kdawson on from the hope-you-like-jammin'-too dept.

The Washington Post is reporting on the growing pressure from state and local law enforcement agencies for permission to jam wireless signals the way the Secret Service and the FBI can. Officials especially want to be able to drop a no-call blanket over local prisons around the country from time to time. "...jamming remains strictly illegal for state and local agencies. Federal officials barely acknowledge that they use it inside the United States, and the few federal agencies that can jam signals usually must seek a legal waiver first. The quest to expand the technology has invigorated a debate about how widely jamming should be allowed and whether its value as a common crime-fighting strategy outweighs its downsides, including restricting the constant access to the airwaves that Americans have come to expect. ... Critics warn of another potential problem, 'friendly fire,' when one agency inadvertently jams another's access to the airwaves, posing a safety hazard in an emergency. [CTIA spokesman Joe] Farren said there are 'smarter, better and safer alternatives,' such as stopping inmates from getting smuggled cellphones in the first place or pinpointing signals from unauthorized callers."

3 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. This will come up by SolidAltar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Question: How the hell do you smuggle a cell phone into prison?
    Answer: You don't. You bribe/threaten a guard.

    1. Re:This will come up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      While there is more corruption in prison than anyone would like to admit, all the compact technology in a cell phone is tremendous, and it keeps getting smaller and easier to smuggle.

      Also, most prisons are criminally understaffed. It is far easier to bribe a guard when there are less eyes on the prisoners and less colleagues who are keeping an eye on other staff as well (although I note the administrative ranks seem to be swelling).

      Jammers make the most amount of sense on a per cost basis, but the underlying problems in prisons remains.*

      *Works in a prison.

  2. Re:dumb. by SolidAltar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Distilling your idea: Setup cell phone towers in prisons. The phones will connect to these towers since they are the strongest. Make these towers "dead" cells".

    I guess as long as you set them up inside the prison blocks of solid concrete walls and steel it could work. *shrug*