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School System Considers Jamming Students' Phones
An anonymous reader writes "The St. Ansgar, Iowa school system is considering buying cell-phone jamming equipment for up to $5000 if it is deemed legal. The use of the equipment would be suspended in the case of an emergency, but one has to wonder if they would be quick enough to shut it down should an emergency arise. 'A Federal Communications Commission notice issued in 2005 says the sale and use of transmitters that jam cellular or personal communications services is unlawful.'"
we didn't have cell phones. beepers were just starting to appear when i graduated high-school. we never had any problems alerting in the event of an emergency. we had fire alarms, PA system, and ye olde fashioned telephones in every classroom.
FOXTROT UNIFORM CHARLIE KILO
I'll help them:
It isn't.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
But what happened to good ol' telling them not to use their mobiles, and if they -do- use it, apply punishment?
I obviously didn't RTA, but what a waste of money... (if not the possible consequences)
When you shoot a mime, do you use a silencer?
In most places, and correct me if I'm wrong, but no one can impede the function of a cellphone when it is calling emergency services. Hell, a 10-year-old cellphone with no service provider still has to be able to connect to 911 - many cities solicit old phones for use by women in domestic violence shelters as emergency phones for just this reason. If the jamming can be rigged to let 911 calls through, then this might be legal from that standpoint.
Whether the FCC allows such things overall, though, is quite another issue.
Never underestimate the potential of Human stupidity. -Heinlein
In before completely unrealistic, hypothetical scenario involving an off-work doctor who is out on his unicycle, when someone gets their second cellphone stuck in their throat, and would have been saved if it hadn't been for the phone-jamming equipment in operation at a nearby school.
What kind? Blackberry?
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Because we all know that kids never violate school rules...
First off - yes, this is very illegal which is why you don't see the use of active jamming equipment in the US. If they want to instead build a Faraday cage around the entire campus, this would be the "legal" - though prohibitively expensive - way of getting around the issue.
If in fact they attempt this, and staff or a student have a bona-fide medical emergency and are unable to summon emergency services, this district will then be tasked for paying for a home nurse to wipe the drool off of said victim's face for the rest of their lives.
You would think those who work in education would, you know, educate themselves on the relevant laws and ramifications of actions... nahhh, this is the US public school system we're talking about here.
If the phone is seen or heard anytime during school hours, it's taken away, and the parent can come claim it. Parents will get sick of having to do that pretty quick, and the students will learn what happens if they use them during school. In our school district, each school can make the specific rules regarding cell phones, and this is generally how they handle the issue. The best part is, the policy is free to implement and only affects a small minority of phones (the offenders) in an emergency situation.
Tin foil is even cheaper. And it looks really cool and quasi-futuristic.
Jamming cell phones is a slippery slope and I think we (as a society) would be just as well off to put a stop to this right here.
There is of course the fact that jamming a cell phone for almost any reason is quite illegal. But let's set that aside.
As has often been mentioned- the idea that the jammer would be shut off in an emergency is absurd. If there's a 'big' emergency nobody will remember to turn it off (assuming anybody knows how to), and for 'little' emergencies (as someone else said, girl getting raped in the locker room) this would create a serious problem. Plus which a jammer, being an RF emitter, doesn't immediately stop jamming when you walk thru the school doors. It will either be overpowered, and reduce or degrade service around the school, or underpowered leading to kids just sitting next to the window so their phones will work.
These problems arise anytime you talk about cell phone jamming, and there is no solution. Cell networks are encrypted, so you can't block only non-emergency calls. And no carrier is going to be the first one to step up and help block their customers, it's just not in anybody's best interest.
This is a societal problem, not a technical one, and it requires a societal fix. If people are yakking on their phone in the movie theater, the solution isn't a jammer, the solution is to get people to not be rude assholes.
As for the school, if they can't get kids to pay attention in class maybe the problem is that their lesson plan is boring and the teacher couldn't care less if the kids are interested or not. Or perhaps their problem is that the faculty doesn't demand student respect, so students ignore the rules.
As a previous poster said- just take away the phone or battery of any kid that is using it in class and give it back to him at the end of the day. If he does it again make his parent come in and get it.
Put simply, this school has a discipline problem and needs better teachers or better administration. It does not have a technical problem, so a technical solution won't help them.
--IronHelix
I think the main problem is really the fact that the school is not designed for the 21st century. Students should be -encouraged- to collaborate because the real world is built on collaboration and research. Memorization ends up being part of it when you research the same thing. Think of programming, even if you use a reference book, eventually you start to memorize it to the point where you hardly need to look in the book. Really, the school system needs reformed, more critical thinking, less multiple choice or single-answer questions, because like it or not that isn't the real world. You aren't locked in a dark room with no internet, no reference materials, no collaboration and being handed a sheet of questions. That isn't how it works. Schools should not be teaching the way they are, teach in a way that allows collaboration because that is how the real world works.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
When I was in high school, rock music and dancing were illegal. We couldn't even dance at prom. That is, until Kevin Bacon moved to our town.
Because mommy and daddy will take little Timmy's side on everything. So they will take the school to court because a teach took Timmy's phone away because he was playing with it in class.
Students know that the teacher can not do anything to them, and that in some cases the parents don't care if they misbehave in school, or misbehave at all. So they do not respect authority figures.
It is one think to not respect authority when your rights are being violated, it is another thing to not respect authority when other people around you are trying to learn.
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
I work at a Law School. If my building full of lawyers couldn't figure an angle to make this work, I'm pretty sure it isn't going to work.
It isn't legal, and if it were, it will open up a whole lotta liability for the school.
Scenario: Columbine-like event. Students & instructors try but cannot call for help because attackers first control the prinicpal's / Dean's office where the equipment can be shut off.
Sceanrio2: I'm a (age of majority)-year old (substitute teacher | student | janitor ), and my (Parent |spouse | child | ward) is (sick | giving birth| dying | being attacked | at the hospital | being sent home from school) .. and I'm the number they were able to reach on speed-dial. .. but I can't receive signals.
Possible solutions:
1) make a no-phones rule and enforce it. Make parents sign consent to confiscate phones as condition of attendance.
If a student is disruptive with a phone, confiscate it and make parent come to school to retrieve it. Inconvenience the parents and they'll deal with the kids.
2) Actually teach. In many (not all) cases, the teachers/professors most upset by this are the same 'educators' who can't keep a student's attention for more than 15 seconds.
If you made your class interesting ( presupposing: you care, you know the material, you work at presenting it fresh).. then students would watch you, and not try to find something else to do.
3) Make it worth Verizon's or ATT's investment. For the right price, you know there's got to be a switching solution.
(a) - refuse to route calls unless the parties are registered in advance.. i.e.: Johnny's cell can always rcv calls from 20 numbers his parents register plus appropriate emergncy numbers, but during school hours, and while in the school+corporate "cell" range, he cannot rcv any other calls / send to other numbers at certain times. Optionally leave recess and 'free period" schedules open.
(b) - make it a condition of class attendance that -Privacy is lost- all cell phone records of calls made inside the School's cell are open for School officials to review. If caught using a cell phone for anything non-emergent during any class or exam, penalize, suspend or expel student.
(c) come up with (or activate existing) remote programming modes. While ( in [area of school] and [hours= school time]) force ringer to (vibrate) + disable email / internet browsing + limit text count to 3 - 5 per hour. ( naturally, allow fairly easy remote or local override by parent or LE when necessary and appropriate)
What if instead of jamming phones, the school put up their own cell antena. They could work with the other local providers to tweek the handoff rules such that phones in side the school are significantly more likely to stay on the school's tower.
Once you have all of those phones on the school's tower it would be simple to shut down texting and internet access while still allowing access to 911 and emergency numbers listed in the student's records.
Sure, it'll cost more than $5000 to get up and maintain, but it is much more likely to pass muster.
Personally though, I'm all for the confiscate and return rule. It's cheaper AND it reinforces lessons in personal responsibility.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
It's a good thing almost every kid 12 years and older now has a cell phone... I can't believe I survived school without one. Those emergencies that happened every day... people getting raped, terrorists trying to take over the school, Canadians invading.
Calling 911 will not prevent the rape anways.
I'd just ban cell phone use if I were a principal/school admin. Get caught using it during school hours for non-emergencies.. phone gets confiscated til the end of the week and you get a detention. Hell, I wasn't allowed to even chew gum or wear a hat. Now get off my lawn.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Very true, but that all depends on how the jamming is done. If it's done in cooperation with the cell companies, perhaps the "jam" can be some form of signal that puts the phones in "SOS Mode" (911 calls go through, everything else is blocked). I know when I have marginal signal on my AT&T BlackBerry (not enough to have any chance of completing a call, but enough to see that a tower is out there) it goes into this mode. Still, this seems to be something better solved by a simple, enforced rule. Cell phones are allowed on school grounds, and may be used freely during break periods and between classes, and during class only with permission (if the student is done with some assignment early and is on "slack time", for example). If a student is caught using a cell phone during a time when it is not permissible, the cell phone will be confiscated and (and this is important) A PARENT will be allowed to pick it up after school, or must give verbal consent for the phone to be released back to the student. None of this "the worst that can happen is your cell is returned at the end of the day". If the student is using a cell as a distraction while they are in class, this should prompt at least a brief discussion between a school representative and the parent. Then the parent has enough information at hand to do their job. In case you have a parent who refuses to do their job, make repeat "cell offenses" the same as sneaking any other banned item into the class (answer key, crib notes, etc). Student is unable to take any test that may take place that day and gets an automatic zero, after-school detention, revocation of privileges, etc, on the usual escalating scale of severity.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
All they need are the usual restrictions for movie theaters. Tell students that carrying a cell phone is fine, but ringing has to be off while in class, and texting in class is a no-no. That's enough to keep cell phones from interfering with the school's educational mission. Beyond that, as a Government body, the school has no business interfering.
Students should be -encouraged- to collaborate because the real world is built on collaboration and research.
Yes, because I'm sure the problem is that students are just *dying* to collaborate over their cell phones, and those nasty teachers are too backwards to understand it. :rollseyes:
Sorry buddy, this is the kind of thing that's being communicated between students during times when they should be working:
"OMG did u c wat ashleys waring 2day???"
"OMG I no wat a hore!"
"LOL!!!"
Hmm, methinks the rapist, if they have that sort of strength, might be able to prevent their victim from getting hold of their cell phone and dialing 9-1-1-SEND. Then, of course, there's the matter of identifying the location (GPS doesn't work indoors) and nature of the crime in progress, and waiting for the police to arrive. I sincerely doubt the rapist would allow all of that to happen.
A loud, piercing, and frequently-repeated scream and appropriate use of fingernails, teeth, and any other blunt or pointy part that can be applied would be far more likely to be useful. At that point, the phone is best applied as a blunt (or if you smash it hard enough against a hard surface and make a shiv, pointy) weapon.
I'm not saying that there's aren't cases where a student's ability to make a 911 call would be useful, even critical, but this doesn't appear to be one of them. If the rapist has overwhelming force sufficient to carry out the act, they have more than enough control to prevent something as complex as a telephone call.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Regardless of whether or not it should be illegal to confiscate items, the fact is that schools have basically the same rights as your parents. So yes, they have every right to search you if that's considered necessary and they can confiscate anything they want.
I personally think that they should only be able to confiscate the battery when it comes to cellphones, because taking a phone is a violation of privacy IMO. (Especially if you're nosing around in the texts or pictures stored on it... but you could, which is enough reason that you shouldn't be able to take the phone.) Taking the battery is good enough.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Back in my day, we didn't have beepers. We didn't have fire alarms. The PA system was the teacher yelling across the room. Barefoot, through five miles of three foot snow, and uphill both ways, dammit!
-Troll, Flamebait, and Offtopic are NOT equivalent to disagreement.
The logical conclusion is that school shootings cause cell phones.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
[Needs Citation]
Here you go.
Calling someone a liar makes you the asshole. Just so you know.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I'm going to assume there are exceptions for dangerous items in your argument. If a teacher sees a student with a gun or a knife, and they have the ability to safely confiscate the item, I'm presuming that teacher has the right to act in the best interests of the classroom and remove those items, correct?
That point aside, Let's run with your argument for a second. A student who is reading a book or doing something else that is not part of the expected behavior within the class is a distraction. You can remove the object that is distracting the student, or you can remove the student. Which is in the better interests of the student (and of the classroom)?
Each individual student has the absolute right to decide for him/herself whether he or she wants to participate in the learning experience, and you are correct - that DOES have its own consequences. But an individual student has no right to decide whether OTHERS get to participate.
Personally, I agree with you. No student should have anything confiscated from them, ever. The teacher should ask for the item and if the student refuses the student should then be removed from the classroom and get to sit in the Principal's office for the remainder of the day until a parent comes in to pick them up.
Longer term, if a student does not want to take advantage of the education the taxpayers are shelling out good money for, they should have the right to leave the classroom as soon as they sign their "no welfare if I fail because of my own decision" disclaimer. But they don't have the right to blow it for anyone else.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
I think the schools live in constant fear of being sued, because they have no money to handle a suit. At the same time that some parents insist no one even talk loudly at a student for disciplinary reasons, some parents also insist on zero-tolerance policies on drugs and such, and the schools respond by trying to be both passive and aggressive at the same time. Education is a secondary issue for schools. Worrying about getting students ready for the real world and becoming good citizens is so far down on the list it might as well not be there.
What about the person in the next stall over who can hear it happening, but is too scared or possibly unable to directly render aid? Jesus... think for two seconds before you post.
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