Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

myfoxny.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 207 posts

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#51

Post by dublinben »

kelnos wrote: post #17
grecy wrote: post #14

Does anyone know if it would be legal to use something like this if it was sufficiently clear with big signs? I'm thinking movie theaters or coffee shops that have huge signs "Your cell phone will not work in there. If you don't agree, don't come in", etc.

Certainly not without FCC approval, which I'd doubt would be easy to get. The big issue (as described in the article) as that the chance of interfering with a legitimate emergency communications system is fairly high.

The FCC does not even allow cell phone jammers at prisons. The Secret Service protecting the President is probably one of the few authorized users of cell phone jammers anywhere in the country.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#52

Post by sukuriant »

skygazer wrote: post #31
nkozyra wrote: post #18

I've dreamed of doing this for a decade, even found some sources in the U.K. to purchase a few and looked up schematics for building wideband jammers. Ultimately it was the very serious approach the FCC takes that stopped me from really exploring it, even for fun. Everthing I'd read indicated that you'd be caught and fast, so I'm sort of surprised it took two years, even if it was on a highway. But lord I still might…

Why is a husband and wife talking to each other in a grocery store so vexing? Is it only if one is remote, or have you also looked into the ramifications of muzzling fellow shoppers? Is it that you prefer to hear both sides of stranger's conversations? I ask in a flippant way, just to highlight the incongruence, but I'm sincerely curious.

I think the image here in this person's mind is of someone bumbling around an isle, not looking where they're going (2 people tend to look around more and be more cogniscent of their environment, especially when the sounds they're listening to are coming from the environment (human voice, 3 feet away) and not a small box a few inches away)... and then occasionally yelling, "WHAT?!!?" into the phone when they can't hear.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#53

Post by DanBC »

rohansingh wrote: post #23
nkozyra wrote: post #18

I've dreamed of doing this for a decade, even found some sources in the U.K. to purchase a few and looked up schematics for building wideband jammers. Ultimately it was the very serious approach the FCC takes that stopped me from really exploring it, even for fun. Everthing I'd read indicated that you'd be caught and fast, so I'm sort of surprised it took two years, even if it was on a highway. But lord I still might…

Really? Let's just hope nothing happens that requires someone to call 911 around you, finding themselves unable to and having emergency services be delayed.

You don't have to leave the jammer turned on.

You just pulse them on every now and then. That drops all the calls. Keep doing it for a few minutes and people give up using their devices.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#54

Post by sukuriant »

sean-duffy wrote: post #43
grecy wrote: post #14

Does anyone know if it would be legal to use something like this if it was sufficiently clear with big signs? I'm thinking movie theaters or coffee shops that have huge signs "Your cell phone will not work in there. If you don't agree, don't come in", etc.

As other people have said, jamming would certainly be illegal because of the potential for interference. However, they could fairly easily implement some kind of passive signal blocking. I know that a few schools, including the one I went to, install aluminium foil in the ceiling for this exact reason.

So school shootings and medical emergencies go unreported?

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#55

Post by DanBC »

leephillips wrote: post #7

My impression that the biggest domestic market for these is hotel operators, who secret them around the premises to force their customers to be gouged by the hotel phone. EDIT: reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/07/business/07jamming.html?_r... There is disagreement about whether this actually happens in the US; seems to be more evidence for it in the UK.

I strongly doubt it happens in the UK. Any hotel doin so would be heavily fined.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#56

Post by hueving »

maresca wrote: post #36

My opinion is probably in the minority on this issue, but I think cell phones should be disabled by default near vehicles(Except for emergency services). As a stick-driver and motorcyclist, I see way too many distracted drivers. People will miss lights, swerve, and worse because of their cell phones. The one thing that will help reverse this trend will be self-driving cars.

This completely ignores everyone considerate enough to car pool. One of the major advantages is being able to read emails, check news, etc. If you can't do anything on your phone, it kind of wrecks one of the major perks.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#57

Post by Periodic »

TheCapn wrote: post #41

"Agents from the FCC used direction finding techniques to find that strong wideband emissions were coming out of a blue Toyota Highlander SUV driven by Humphreys." This I find interesting and am curious what devices they had to obtain in order to accomplish this. I used to work for a telco that, to this day, continues to have this very issue with _someone_ in a remote rural location. By the time the NOC can inform lo…

I think this person gave themselves away by being extremely regular about their behavior. If he was causing disruption on the commute every day for two years then they had plenty of time to work through the bureaucracy of getting the equipment out there and tracking it down.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#58

Post by mikestew »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #34
cheeseprocedure wrote: post #11

Does anyone here work for a wireless service provider? It would be interesting to hear how major sources of interference are identified and dealt with.

Causing interference is generally covered by regulation, and the FCC enforces it. See some examples for violation of amateur radio misuse: http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/Welcome.html edit: I don't work for a wireless service provider, but I'm into amateur radio.

And to follow up on what TallGuyShort says, they most likely triangulate just as for amateur radio when looking for transmissions that violate regulations.

Or, come to think of it, if you know the transmitter goes down I-4 everyday, just sit by the side of the road with a receiver and watch signal strength. I-4 can be pretty crowded, but it shouldn't be hard to narrow it down as the signal gets stronger then starts to tail off.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#59

Post by zo1 »

jablan wrote: post #37
primitivesuave wrote: post #25

My mom's SUV was totaled by a woman who was on her iPad while driving. I really don't think we'll be fixing the idiots-on-the-road epidemic anytime soon.

The solution is not only logical, but also an answer to lots of other problems: ditch the car-centric culture and move these people out from their cars to buses, trains, trams, bicycles and other forms of sustainable transport. It's not that hard, takes some time getting used to, but will do good to all of us.

Here's another non-obvious solution to the problem:

Start making sure that insurance companies have no payouts if the driver's phone was on X amount of time before the accident. That way they pay for their own damage, and the damage done to everyone around them. Regardless if they were "at fault" using conventional reasoning.

How about another one: Require all vehicles to install cell phone tethers that have the driver's registered sim card in it. Disable it during the drive. Mandate it's installation, and penalize people that break it, even more so if they were in an accident.

Almost ALL problems have a technical/legislative solution for them. The only real problem is that no one has either the resolve, balls, lawyers, political backing, or money to implement/require those technical/legislative solutions. So all we get are half-asses solutions with selective (and sometimes biased) enforcement by the police/courts.

Re: Driver caught using cell phone jamming device

#60

Post by freehunter »

sukuriant wrote: post #54
sean-duffy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As other people have said, jamming would certainly be illegal because of the potential for interference. However, they could fairly easily implement some kind of passive signal blocking. I know that a few schools, including the one I went to, install aluminium foil in the ceiling for this exact reason.

So school shootings and medical emergencies go unreported?

Doesn't every school have a landline somewhere in the building?
Post reply on HN