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Why cellphone jammers aren’t the answer

So it seems the hottest item to sneak into a prison cell is no longer contraband cigarettes, or a knife baked in a cake, but a cellphone. Clearly a prisoner with too much time on his hands and lack of access to the outside world would immediately see the value of being able to connect wirelessly to friends, family and others on the outside.
Thus, the argument from CellAntenna Corp. to implement its cellphone jamming equipment into the prison system. CellAntenna has been trying to demonstrate its service in prisons from Texas to the nation’s capital, to no avail. CTIA has blocked this effort, saying that jammers are illegal in the United States, and that there are other ways for law enforcement and industry to work together to prevent convicted criminals from having access to today’s favorite device.
Movie theater owners embraced the idea of jammers years ago, when rude people wouldn’t turn off their phones during the movie. Today, we’ve “evolved” enough as a culture that there are numerous reminders to turn the cellphone to vibrate when entering the theater, and the main cellphone distraction during the movie is the 14-year-old next to you who texts her best friend sitting beside her. (And I’ll be the first one to sign the petition asking theater owners to ban 14-year-olds from texting, except in case of emergencies.)
Forget the question of whether the prison system needs help confiscating cellphones from convicts or whether there is a better way to check for contraband electronics. (Seriously, I doubt you can sneak your cellphone through airport security so how exactly do you sneak it through prison security?) The larger issue here, as I see it, is the whole philosophy of who is in control of the wireless network.
CTIA can legitimately argue that network operators own the network so they should control it. Manufacturers of antenna boosters and the like can rightfully argue that they actually are helping operators by offering products that make cellphones work in places they often don’t. Jammers are another matter and should likely remain illegal as the rule, not the exception. (Federal authorities can use jammers.)
Similarly, some well-meaning companies are trying to stop drivers from making calls or sending texts when they’re behind the wheel. It doesn’t sound like any of that technology is ready for commercial deployment yet, but the questions remain the same: Who should be allowed to have the power to block calls from the car? Parents, law enforcement or network owners?
Perhaps the only reasonable solution to who controls access to the network is one that respects the rights of the carrier, the manufacturer of ancillary devices, law enforcement and the individual.

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