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Chicagoan Arrested For Using Cell-phone Jammer To Make Subway Commute Tolerable (chicagotribune.com)

Posted by timothy on from the bug-me-not-write-large dept.

McGruber writes with this story from the Chicago Tribune: Last Fall, certified public accountant Dennis Nicholl boarded a Chicago subway train while carrying a plastic bag of Old Style beer. Nicholl popped open a beer and looked around the car, scowling as he saw another rider talking on a cellphone. He pulled out a black device from his pocket and switched it on. Commuters who had been talking on their phones went silent, checking their screens for the source of their dropped calls. On Tuesday, undercover officers arrested Nicholl. Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police allege he created his own personal 'quiet car' on the subway by using an illegal device he imported from China. He was charged with unlawful interference with a public utility, a felony. This is not the first time Nicholl has been charged with jamming cell calls. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in June 2009, according to court records. He was placed under court supervision for a year, and his equipment was confiscated and destroyed.

14 of 518 comments (clear)

  1. Good by fonos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's lucky there wasn't an emergency and that his device did not interfere with a 911 call. This is reckless behavior, and he already knew the seriousness of this crime because of the prior conviction.

    By the way, are you allowed to have a beer on the Chicago public transit? If so, that's fantastic!

    1. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Chicagoan here - technically no booze allowed on the Chicago Transportation Authority (CTA) run vehicles which this guy was on, but I've never seen it enforced. You can drink to your hearts content on the Metra though, which heads out to the Chicago burbs, and is owned by the same parent organization as the CTA.

    2. Re:Good by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 5, Insightful

      911 calls from cell phones on public transit are relatively rare. But many of us use the data links on our smart phones to check our schedules for connections for other buses or for trains. Many of us in high demand work also respond to text based alerts during lengthy commutes. We're not loud, we're not speaking on the cell phones, and it's much safer to do this on public transit than it is to drive home and have to pull off the road to handle an alert. So it sounds like he's interfering with people who are being responsible and safe, as well as those who are rude.

    3. Re:Good by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I guess I was just lucky to survive the dark ages before mobiles existed

      And more people died back then (unpreventably) due to this, so it is an irrelevent point.

      If someone could call for help and get assistance faster (greater chance of surviving), and you interfere with this, then you become liable for their death, and if you did it with knowledge and/or intent, or a legal equivalent (such as reckless negligence), then criminally liable.

    4. Re:Good by Improv · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Modern technologies, even comm technologies, have made some dangers (like heart attacks) significantly less dangerous. We've built a better world, and just because people survived the old doesn't mean that we should permit people to recreate those older dangers.

      --
      For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
    5. Re:Good by avandesande · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes but how many? None of us walked around feeling insecure because 911 wasn't a keypress away. I would say a lot has been lost, like the ability to plan outings with family and friends or use a map. In fact there has been studies that have shown a general reduction of executive function in the population.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    6. Re:Good by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've been on many public train systems but I have yet to see any signs that indicate that pissing on the seats isn't allowed.

      --

      Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification

  2. No good guys. by Cytotoxic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are no good guys in this story. He's a dick for blocking other people's services. The government are being ridiculous in charging him with felonies and holding hundreds of thousands in fines over his head, and people having loud animated conversations on their cell phones in crowded public spaces are rude.

    If he did what he is accused of then he is guilty of disturbing the peace. He should be punished accordingly. He's not guilty of intercepting people's cell calls and recording their conversations with a sting-ray device. He didn't bring down the local power sub-station. He did the equivalent of loudly disrupting a public meeting. Proportionality is an important concept, and we've lost track of it.

    1. Re:No good guys. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      But he was blocking the use of a sting-ray device, so they threw the book at him.

    2. Re:No good guys. by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The only thing I would add is that if all Mr Nicholl wanted to do was silence the cellphones, he could've left the jammer in the bag.

      Bringing it into plain view ratchets it up a notch to, "I am making a point here. Look at me!"

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    3. Re:No good guys. by The-Ixian · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, it depends on how loud the chat is.

      I get annoyed at loud conversation all the time. Of course, I hate people so...

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
  3. dipshit by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....for taking it out to flip a stupid switch.
    Smart would have been to be on a call himself, and meanwhile in his pocket flip the switch, then act all annoyed and pissed like everyone else.

    BTW where could I buy one?

    --
    -Styopa
  4. Headphones by b0bby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A pair of Quiet Comfort noise cancelling headphones would have been a better idea, especially since he had been caught with a jammer before.
    Must not have been paying attention in kindergarten when they discussed making good choices.

  5. life in the city by snsh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Unless you've ever lived in a big city and commuted regularly by train, you wouldn't be aware of how silent riders are in rush hour, especially morning rush hour when the trains and stations are most crowded. A single person making small talk on their phone annoys everyone.

    The mistake this guy made was running his jammer continuously. If you have jammer and want to target one person on a cell phone, you only have to momentarily switch on the jammer when the other end of the call is talking. When the rider is chatting, you leave the jammer off, when the other end is talking, you turn it on. Within 30 seconds, the caller will give up. Using this approach, your jammer is only on for a few seconds at a time.