Controversial Cell Jamming Tests Scheduled for D.C. Cancelled
The District of Columbia Department of Corrections has cancelled tests scheduled for Thursday of cellphone jamming equipment at the D.C. Jail. That development came after CTIA sought a writ of mandamus aimed at vacating a Friday order by the FCC Wireless Bureau granting D.C. officials special temporary authority to test equipment developed by CellAntenna (CD Jan 7 p2). The court had ordered the FCC to reply by 8 p.m. Wednesday. FCC and the city both sent the court letters providing notice that the tests had been scuttled.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“No one wants to keep wireless devices out of the hands of imprisoned convicts more than we do,” CTIA said in a statement after receiving news that the tests had been cancelled. “Interfering with wireless communications within a prison can have serious and harmful consequences. To avoid this dangerous scenario, CTIA is committed to working with corrections officials, technology companies and other interested parties to help identify, detect and confiscate wireless devices within prisons. A solution to this challenge exists, and it can be implemented lawfully with no risk to critical wireless communications.”
Operation of the jamming technology developed by CellAntenna is “flatly illegal under Section 333 of the Communications Act, and the commission lacks the statutory authority to authorize violations of this congressional directive protecting the rights of authorized users of the wireless spectrum,” the CTIA said in its filing at the court. The group said the order came despite a “string of statements and enforcement orders” that “correctly” declare that any use of wireless jamming technology is illegal under the Communications Act.
CTIA said it received virtually no warning, since the special temporary authority order came out late Friday, less than a week before tests were to take place. “The decision to authorize the demonstration -- made without notice to the public or affected parties, without opportunity for comment, without consideration of any evidence regarding the potential consequences to legitimate transmission of operating the contemplated technology, and with no exigent public-safety need -- is the very essence of arbitrary and capricious decision-making,” the pleading said.