In the wake of the Barcelona train bombings, which were detonated by cell phones, the L.A. County Sheriff floats the idea of jamming cell phone signals at crowded facilities:
Cell-phone use could be blacked out at Los Angeles International Airport, the Rose Bowl and Universal Studios under an anti-terrorism plan being formulated by L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement authorities.
Baca is exploring the use of jamming equipment — already used widely in foreign countries and to protect President Bush — to interrupt cell-phone signals if a terrorist attack was expected in Los Angeles.
The issue gained urgency after terrorists used cell phones to detonate explosives March 11 in railway bombings in Spain. Baca, who recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Pakistan, said a cell-phone jamming device helped avert the attempted assassination of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Dec. 14.
Interesting idea, but one not likely to go over well with the masses. And resourceful terrorists can always rig up a device which operates outside the cell phone range on the wave frequency spectrum. So there’s no guarantee this would thwart remote detonation.
Greetings,
You’ve got to be kidding me.. So what’s next, banning people from public places altogether?
I do seem to recall that back in the stone ages (read pre-cell phones) bombers used silly things like timers and remote control transmitters used in model airplanes, cars etc…
I guess its time to go dig out that terrorist emergency kit the (then) newly formed Homeland Security promoted, plastic and duct tape and tape up my windows and doors….
This analogy just popped into my head:
Preventing people from using cell phones in places like LAX, is like preventing people from using cars on freeways.