[Scan-DC] Cell-phone jamming keeps rearing its head

[Alan Henney]

http://urgentcomm.com/policy_and_law/commentary/cell-jamming-debate-0114/

Cell-phone jamming keeps rearing its head
Jan 14, 2009 12:09 PM, By Lynnette Luna

A controversial cell-phone jamming demonstration that was scheduled by
the D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) was cancelled last week but
the debate over its use appears to be just heating up.

The DOC was supposed to demonstrate cell-phone jamming technology from
vendor CellAntenna on Jan. 8 and it sought approval from the FCC to do
so, noting that inmates use contraband cell phones while in custody to
“engage in highly pernicious behavior” such as intimidating witnesses
and coordinating criminal activity. The FCC approved the
demonstration, which was supposed to demonstrate that directional
jamming could be used to stop cell-phone signals within a detention
facility without harming other communications signals. The Cellular
Telecommunication & Internet Association (CTIA), the trade association
that represents the commercial mobile carrier industry, opposed the
FCC’s move and took the matter to a federal appeals court to block the
demonstration, describing the FCC’s approval of the demonstration as
illegal and the “very essence of arbitrary and capricious agency
decision-making.” The U.S. Court of Appeals directed the FCC to
respond to CTIA’s filing, but the DOC cancelled the demonstration
before it could do so.

While noting the DOC’s intention to limit jamming only to the walls of
its correctional facility—the condition on which the FCC granted the
demonstration—CTIA said “there has not been a shred of evidence
presented to the commission that the demonstration will not interfere
with legitimate uses of the wireless spectrum, including those beyond
the facility.”

However, the South Carolina Department of Corrections demonstrated
cell-phone jamming technology from CellAntenna back in November and
claimed that the technology did indeed jam signals inside the prison
without blocking service for people on the outside, according to a
report from a South Carolina news station. The prison plans to ask the
FCC for permission to conduct a longer term pilot program in the state
’s prisons. And state prison officials there also want South Carolina’
s U.S. senators to introduce legislation to allow local law
enforcement agencies to use jamming technology. Texas prisons want
cell-phone jamming technology too.

On Friday, The New York Times reported that New York public-safety
officials are studying the feasibility of using cell-phone jamming
technology to prevent terrorist attacks after it was discovered that
gunmen in Mumbai, India, used satellite phones to coordinate their
killings in November. During a Senate hearing late last week, police
Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly raised the possibility of using jamming
technology but noted there were technical hurdles to jamming signals
in narrow locations.

“Law enforcement needs to find ways to disrupt cellphones and other
communications” during a crisis like the one in Mumbai, he said. He
stressed that caution must be taken in pursuing such plans so that the
technology doesn’t keep emergency personnel or keep civilians from
making emergency calls.

Understandably, CTIA opposes the idea of cell-phone jamming, saying
the practice would have unintended implications, such as jamming up
911 calls and of course disrupting cell-phone signals for millions of
customers, which in turn could disrupt the businesses of the
mobile-phone operators they represent.

But this sticky issue isn’t going away, and the most interesting part
is folks don’t exactly know what entities have the authority to govern
cell-phone jamming. While the FCC granted the D.C. Department of
Corrections a waiver to test the technology, it purportedly didn’t
have the authority to do so. The Communications Act of 1934 governs
this, and state and local governments apparently should be asking
Congress for permission. But it appears that the FCC could initiate a
petition for rulemaking to allow state and local governments to use
jamming equipment. Hopefully, this will be an issue lawmakers are
willing to tackle this year, as state and local governments continue
to push the envelope on the issue.

What do you think? Tell us in the comment box below.