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BART Disables Cell Service To Disrupt Protests

Posted by timothy on from the government-you-deserve dept.

1729 writes "Yesterday, in an effort to disrupt rumored protests at Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, BART officials disabled cell phone and internet access within most of the BART system by shutting down the antennas that enable reception in the underground stations."

6 of 440 comments (clear)

  1. Stupid slope by White+Flame · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How long will it be before they just gas a place with knock-out gas in order to "keep the peace"?

    1. Re:Stupid slope by capnkr · · Score: 5, Insightful
      This:

      I would shoot you in the leg.

      You'd better be a damned good shot with that pistol. Most people aren't. Not enough to intentionally hit the smaller parts of an advancing target in a threatening situation, when adrenaline is pouring through your bloodstream and you have absolutely no control over the situation or the actions of the person who's coming at you with a weapon fast, and noise and stress and recoil are playing hell with your careful, gun-range shooting practice skills and he's almost on you...

      Your plan sounds all good and idealistic and I'd also like to think that it can happen that way, but remember Moltke: "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." Try to kill me, and I'll try to kill you right back.

      --
      "...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
    2. Re:Stupid slope by type40 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When you fire your weapon you should mean it. Don't shoot to injure or incapacitate. Shoot to kill.

      No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
      You shoot to end the threat.
      If when all is said and done they are no longer metabolizing oxygen, fine. But if you plant a round center mass and they drop their weapon, turn tail, and run. You better cease fire, the threat has been stopped, cuz the next shot you fire they are the victim.
      You shoot to end the threat.
      You shoot to end the threat.
      You shoot to end the threat.
      You shoot to end the threat.
      You shoot to end the threat.
      You shoot to end the threat.

      --
      "You can see I know very little about pimp policy." George McGovern.
  2. Re:Welcome to Fascism by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fascist! Turn from the left
    Fascist! Turn to the right
    Oooh, fascist!
    We are the goon squad
    and we're coming to town
    Beep-beep
    Beep-beep

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  3. Re:Won't make too much difference by Mal-2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Further, the only thing shut off was BART's own equipment. They were transparent enough to say "we shut off our gear rather than let you use it to organize against us", rather than blaming the outage on some sort of convenient hardware failure (or vandalism, which probably would have passed the sniff test under the circumstances). I can't imagine the cell sites outside the paid platform (which were left on) have zero spillover, so those who absolutely needed it could stand at the periphery while waiting for the next train.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  4. Re:Interesting, yet scary. by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not that it's a requirement. If they took it down because it was too expensive, or it needed lengthy repairs, or whatever, I'd be fine with that. But when they cut off a mode of communication specifically to prevent people from communicating, that's when it becomes a problem. I expect that in Syria or Iran, not in the US.