Cell jammers

[Tank_Guy#3]

Apparently they're too busy talking on their phone to pay attention to my bumpersticker.

They're speeding and swerving tend to imply that also. Perhaps get that chalk (or whatever that is) stuff and write that on your rear window.

Since they're illegal in the US, I wonder what the penalty would be for trying to get or having one?

 

[Merkinball]

Well, think the solution to this is clear. This is obviously evidence of externalities not being solved by the free market. People are having their rights to not listen to half conversation violated. It's clear that the government should get together with industry and a consortium of social groups to create legislation which will somehow involve restricting various freedoms of whichever group proves to be the minority. That's democracy people.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Grrrrrrr, pretty stiff:

Anyone caught manufacturing, selling, owning, or using a jammer in the U.S. is punishable by an $11,000 fine and up to a year in prison for each offense.

From this site.

 

[MobBoss]

Hmmm I wonder how people ever survived before cellphones were around

Its something we would rather keep around than do without. People can also live without electricity....do you want to really survive without it though?

 

[dutchfire]

The carriers also raise a public safety issue: jammers could be used by criminals to stop people from communicating in an emergency.

At the public relations office of Verizon

"Decent story for the press about these jammer thingies?"
"Well, it isn't really impressive yet, is it?"
"You're right, you know what, we'll throw in something about cancer, that always works"
"That's so last century, this century it's about terrorism, remember"
"Right, okay I'll put something about public safety in"

 

[MobBoss]

But in "not telling you how to be a parent" you're turning around and telling me how to run my theater.

Do you own a theater? Btw, since the use of such jammers is illegal, its not me telling you....its the government.

I'm not taking you to task because you care about your kids, I'm suggesting that commonly-held standards like "they need to be able to get ahold of me immediately 24/7" aren't as important as people make it out to be, and indeed haven't even been possible before 1995 or so.

I think thats up to each individual who has that choice before them.

Again, what right do you have to dictate how I run my theater?

Its called the law.

Don't punish people who take drugs discreetly and within the boundaries dictated... you see how that argument goes now when it flips around.

If you really want to delve into the differences between cell phone use and drug use we can go there. But I dont think it will be a succesful analogy for you to pursue.

 

[mrt144]

These things are actually pretty bad because

1.As people become increasingly reliant on cell phones the ability to interrupt the ability to communicate with them becomes more potent.

2. Imagine that you are going to rob someone that lives in an apartment building. Taking into account that apartments are close together, and might be inhabited mostly by people with cell phones only (like my apartment is), you could almost instantly negate the victim, and any neighbor from contacting the authorities.

The benefit of being "less annoyed" is not compelling enough to warrant the risk of disabling the only form of communication people have and the potential exploitation by criminals.

 

[Left]

If someone talking in public annoys you, never leave your house.

If its really irritating, you could say something to that person, rather than going the passive-aggressive route and jamming them.

 

[mrt144]

also, I would start selling devices that can locate the source of the signal that is jamming so that I could tell the person to knock it off.

I think the other annoying part about jammers is they disrupt completely benign forms of cell communication; Data. I use my cell for texting and IMing more than talking and I would be extremely pissed if that was cut off because some jerk thought the importance of not being annoyed and penalizing everyone for one person trumped my benign use of cell technology.

 

[MrCynical]

Cool as hell, but very bad. Not only are you interfering with others right to the airwaves which they are paying for, but you are releasing quantities of potentially unhealthy radiation without their consent. I'm not sure if it would be very dangerous, but considering there re concerns over cell phones causing cancer, and these things pump out WAY more power than cell phones... I mean it's probably not much opf a risk, but it's still unethical to expose people too without their knowledge.

Not an issue, it's still going to be seriously low power if its in the radio part of the EM spectrum. As with cell phones themselves, a little thought shows you it makes no sense to worry about them. They can't cause cell damage since any one photon doesn't have enough power to break a chemical bond. The only way you could harm someone is if you crank the intensity up to the point where the thermal effects become serious (as in a microwave). I somehow think people would notice themselves being over heated, and that would probably need more power than is available in a pocket size device.

I always come to the same point with cell phones; point a torch at your head. You are now putting orders of magnitude more power into your head than a cell phone, yet for some reason you don't worry about light causing cancer.

As to whether it's ethical or not to use these jammers, I'm a little uncertain. Random use in public places is definitely out - I doubt the users know the range of these devices too well, and the sudden power spike may have a much worse effect on nearby electronics than the phones. How about nearby emergency services? On public transport - again, safety issues, and the trade off of your rights (and those of the others around you) against those of cell phone users (inconsiderate and otherwise).

In private property it becomes more tricky though. You're certainly allowed to turn your building into a giant Faraday cage, and some of them act like that anyway. Using this jammer is little different, except that it can be turned on and off. As to rights - you don't have to be in any private property. If you can't have your phone off for whatever reason, then don't go there (places like theatres should clearly indicate phones will not function there, but otherwise they should be free to give you the choice of switching off your phone or going elsewhere). The jammer would have an edge over the Faraday cage approach since it could be rapidly turned off in an emergency.

 

[BirraImperial]

Cell phones are very important in today's modern world. When my loved ones are out, I like to keep in touch with them, just in case they need something from me, or if I can help them somehow. Cell phones are very handy in case of an emergency. Of course, there are people who abuse them, but playing vigilante disrupting all communications around you isn't the way to solve things.
If you drive and have a cell phone, use a Bluetooth headset, if you're going to the theater, a class or to church, set your phone to vibrate. It's just a matter of common sense.

 

[warpus]

Its something we would rather keep around than do without. People can also live without electricity....do you want to really survive without it though?

Yes, from time to time. When I go camping, for example!

And I'm sure people can do without cellphones for 2 hours. If cellphone free movie theatres started popping up, I'd be going there instead.

(Let the free market decide)

 

[BirraImperial]

I've never owned a cell phone in my life. I hate cell phones. They are the scourge of modern society.Sorry but cell phones are unessecary completely. They haven't improved our quality of life or anything they've just made things worse and more complicated.

I have never found myself in a situation when I needed a cell phone, and I have no intention of ever getting a cell phone either. People got around fine before cell phones existed, I don't see why they're oh so indespinable now. Use a bloody normal phone like people did before or something.

All this can be blamed on the bloody advertisers and companies, who are creating false demand for their product by making it seem nessecary when its actually not. Cell phones are yet another symbol of capitalist decadence. Corparations do this sort of thing all the time, selling people products they don't need. They've created an entire bloody pseudo-culture and lifestyle around cell phones. My class mates were horribly shocked and horrified when I told them I didn't have a cell phone, never owned one, and never would. They went on and on about the many vauge and unlikley situations that could befall me due to me not having a cell phone. Oh so very terrifying, I've managed to survive for the first bloody 17 years of my life without a bloody cell phone and I can bloody well contiue to do so.

Humans are just bloody sheep aren't they. Advertisers brainwash them into thinking cellphones are this amazing device sent by Allah himself but seriously WTH. Their bloody not. I don't need their fancy feautrues or cameraphone, built in map, GPS and loads of other crap they put in the phones tese days. Especially that Applie iPhone which is the largest piece of . .. .. .. . I've ever set eyes on. Damn apple. The iPhone, and the iPod and Mp3 players are all products of modern consumerist society. Damn that.

Damn cellphones.

I approve of cell phone jammers the Flying Spaghetti Monster has delivered it through divine intervention. May he be praised.

You know, there is a place you would fit right in: North Korea! they even banned cell phones!!

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I always come to the same point with cell phones; point a torach at your head. You are now putting orders of magnitude more power into your head than a cell phone, yet for some reason you don't worry about light causing cancer.

Are you sure about that? Power is energy/time and the energy of a photon is proportional to its frequency. The higher the frequency, the higher the energy and cell phones operate at much higher frequency than visible light.

 

[mrt144]

birra hit on something that I want to restate;

The desire of one person to not be annoyed or bothered by one annoying user, and then taking an action which deprives many users of passive and benign uses of their devices is bad. it is a form of passive aggressive collective punishment for the sole purpose of not being annoyed! NOT BEING ANNOYED!

 

[Commodore]

I've never owned a cell phone in my life. I hate cell phones. They are the scourge of modern society.Sorry but cell phones are unessecary completely. They haven't improved our quality of life or anything they've just made things worse and more complicated.

I have never found myself in a situation when I needed a cell phone, and I have no intention of ever getting a cell phone either. People got around fine before cell phones existed, I don't see why they're oh so indespinable now. Use a bloody normal phone like people did before or something.

All this can be blamed on the bloody advertisers and companies, who are creating false demand for their product by making it seem nessecary when its actually not. Cell phones are yet another symbol of capitalist decadence. Corparations do this sort of thing all the time, selling people products they don't need. They've created an entire bloody pseudo-culture and lifestyle around cell phones. My class mates were horribly shocked and horrified when I told them I didn't have a cell phone, never owned one, and never would. They went on and on about the many vauge and unlikley situations that could befall me due to me not having a cell phone. Oh so very terrifying, I've managed to survive for the first bloody 17 years of my life without a bloody cell phone and I can bloody well contiue to do so.

Humans are just bloody sheep aren't they. Advertisers brainwash them into thinking cellphones are this amazing device sent by Allah himself but seriously WTH. Their bloody not. I don't need their fancy feautrues or cameraphone, built in map, GPS and loads of other crap they put in the phones tese days. Especially that Applie iPhone which is the largest piece of . .. .. .. . I've ever set eyes on. Damn apple. The iPhone, and the iPod and Mp3 players are all products of modern consumerist society. Damn that.

Damn cellphones.

I approve of cell phone jammers the Flying Spaghetti Monster has delivered it through divine intervention. May he be praised.

QFT.

In fact, I have one in the trunk of my car that jams all cellphone signals within a 4km radius around my vehicle. Not only does that allow me to jam drivers' cell phones, but the large radius makes it difficult to pinpoint where the jamming is coming from.

 

[Trajan12]

As said before, their potential for abuse drastically outweighs making sure you don't have to sit through some chick's conversation.

 

[MrCynical]

Are you sure about that? Power is energy/time and the energy of a photon is proportional to its frequency. The higher the frequency, the higher the energy

Correct

cell phones operate at much higher frequency than visible light.

Not correct. Cell phones operate in the microwave part of the EM spectrum (generally at frequencies of a few hundred to a few thousand MHz). Visible light is at a much higher frequency (about 10^15Hz, so about 1,000,000,000MHz), and hence will give much higher power.

 

[mrt144]

end of discussion.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Correct



Not correct. Cell phones operate in the microwave part of the EM spectrum (generally at frequencies of a few hundred to a few thousand MHz). Visible light is at a much higher frequency (about 10^15Hz, so about 1,000,000,000MHz), and hence will give much higher power.

Ah you're right. I must have mixing up frequency and wavelength.