[Scan-DC] CTIA seeks to block cellphone jamming demo at DC jail

[Jeff Krauss]

CTIA seeks to block cellphone jamming demo at DC jail
January 7 2009 - 2:05 pm ET | Jeffrey Silva | RCR Wireless News
-- 

The cellphone jamming dispute between the 
mobile-phone industry and CellAntenna Corp. has 
dramatically escalated, with a high-profile legal 
battle playing out in the nation’s capital in 
advance of a planned demonstration tomorrow at a 
local prison to show how inmates’ wireless calls can be blocked.

Cellular industry association CTIA today asked a 
federal appeals court to nix a Federal 
Communications Commission order permitting the 
District of Columbia Department of Corrections to 
host a demonstration using equipment supplied by CellAntenna.

“Operation of such ‘jamming technology’ is flatly 
illegal under Section 333 of the Communications 
Act, and the commission lacks the statutory to 
authorize violations of this congressional 
directive protecting the rights of authorized 
users of the wireless spectrum,” stated CTIA in a 
petition filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia Circuit. “Moreover, the 
decision to authorize the demonstration — made 
without notice to the public or affected parties, 
without opportunity for comment, without 
consideration of any evidence regarding the 
potential consequences to legitimate transmission 
of operating the contemplated technology, and 
with no exigent public-safety need — is the very 
essence of arbitrary and capricious decision-making.”

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20090107/WIRELESS/901079987/1103/newsletter32