Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Gazette: Superintendent considers using illegal communications jammers in schools


Cell phone users beware: Tech-savvy Superintendent Weast is considering purchase of cell phone jamming devices for use in schools.

From an article in today's Gazette:
On Tuesday, Weast told board members that he might consider purchasing devices for the pilot schools to jam cell phone reception during class. During lunch, school officials would turn off the devices to allow students to use the phones.
Federal law prohibits sale or operation of devices that block or jam wireless communications. (US Government agencies are exempt from the law.) A violator can be fined up to $11,000 or be imprisoned for up to one year for the first offense.

Sale or use of jamming equipment is taken very seriously by the Federal Communications Commission. Whether MCPS will test the FCC's resolve is yet to be seen.

3 comments:

  1. What if there was an emergency and no one could call for help in time? Poorly thought out idea.
    Barb

    ReplyDelete
  2. My - and my husband's - first thought too, Barb!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is why every school has scores of landline phones. School employees do not use cell phones to make official calls. This "emergency" thing is way overblown.

    ReplyDelete

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