[telecom] Prison to Test Cellphone Jamming

danny burstein · 2010-02-17T00:42:18+00:00

[WSJ]ANNAPOLIS, Md - Equipment that jams cellphones will get its firstfederally sanctioned test inside a prison in Maryland this week, asstate officials try to show Congress how the technology can preventinmates from using the contraband devices to commit crimes, agovernor's spokesman said Tuesday.... a bill that passed the Senate and awaits action by the House wouldallow states to petition the FCC to block the use of cellphones fromprisons.Testing is set to begin Wednesday at the Federal CorrectionalInstitution in Cumberland, said Shaun Adamec, spokesman forGov. Martin O'Malley. ----------------rest: may be power, but communications is the key [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

Feb 17, 2010 24 Replies

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T 16 years ago

So much for the morality of the religious I suppose. Just tell people to leave them at home in that case.

***** Moderator's Note *****

Maybe those who steal from a church vestibule are addicts who can't plan beyond their next dose, or innocent children who see a chrome-covered gewgaw lying around, or impressionable young adults who need to learn that having a device is not nearly so important as _earning_ it, and that trust is a lot easier to lose than to gain.

If nothing else, a church is supposed to be a place where attendees can think about something besides their daily concerns: perhaps even a place where they can shrug off the loss of a tool and hope that God has a better purpose in mind both for it and for them.

Bill Horne Moderator

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danny burstein 16 years ago

Or ... we can use pretty much any of the abandoned (or partially shut down) mine shafts that sit all over the country. Some of them were pretty well equipped during our concern over the "mine shaft gap" with the Russkies.

A dozen feet, or a hundred.. of dirt, concrete, and stone does a pretty good job of blocking radio signals.

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tlvp 16 years ago

Hmmm ... cell phones don't work if their batteries are run down. Perhaps prisoners' cells shouldn't have electrical outlets ... . No juice, no charge, no (usability for any) cell phone. No?

Cheers, -- tlvp

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Scott Dorsey 16 years ago

That's part of it, but part of it is also that some prisoners want to say things that they don't want recorded. Prison phone calls are not private, and if you want to call a friend to have your defense attorney bumped off, you probably don't want it recorded... so you use an unauthorized cellphone.

--scott

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