Just when, and who, has the right to jam your cell phone communications?
That’s a question the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking consumers to comment on. They’ve issued a public notice seeking comments regarding a series of questions related to the “intentional interruption of wireless service.” Consumers who wish to file a comment they use the FCC’s Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) at http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/, according to the notice.
One of the examples given for a possible intentional interruption of service would involve emergency personnel temporarily jamming wireless signals that might be used to detonate an explosive device, if such a situation arose.
Another example would be to jam wireless signals if authorities suspected they were being used to incite a violent flash mob. The FCC referenced the case in San Francisco where Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) personnel jammed signals when they feared protesters are organizing a more violent situation.
For the purpose of this notice, the FCC said the comments would be limited to service interruptions initiated by wireless carriers at the request of governmental authorities. “We do not invite comment on practices expressly prohibited by statute or regulation, such as signal jamming,” the FCC wrote in the notice.
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