News Regarding the Center
Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals
Washington Post
February 01, 2009
But the cellular industry trade group warns that letting the nation's 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies decide when and where to
jam phone calls would create a messy patchwork of potential service disruptions.
Critics warn of another potential problem, "friendly fire," when one agency inadvertently jams another's access to the airwaves, posing a
safety hazard in an emergency. Farren said there are "smarter, better and safer alternatives," such as stopping inmates from getting smuggled
cellphones in the first place or pinpointing signals from unauthorized callers.
Still, analysts said, events such as the Mumbai attacks may tip the debate in favor of law enforcement.
"Without something like Mumbai, the national security and public safety cases would not be as compelling," said James E. Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University. "Now, the
burden of proof has been shifting to people who don't want these
exceptions, rather than the people who do."
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