South Carolina Sets Test of Cellphone Jamming Without FCC Permission
The South Carolina Department of Corrections scheduled a demonstration of cellphone jamming technology at a prison Nov. 21, in defiance of federal law. A spokesman for the department said it has “contacted” FCC representatives, the state’s congressional delegation, state legislators, businesses and others interested to invite them to the event at the Leiber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville. Meanwhile, a Texas member of Congress asked the FCC to act against contraband cellphone use in state prisons by authorizing jamming.
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The South Carolina corrections spokesman said the demonstration by CellAntenna should help answer questions about the safety and effectiveness of jamming. Asked whether the department has the FCC’s permission, he said offices would deal with that if it became an issue. State corrections chief Jon Ozmint has said he wants the FCC to authorize cellphone jamming at state prisons as the only practical way to halt security breaches, but it’s not clear that the FCC can do that (CD Oct 24 p3).
U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, a member of the House Telecom Subcommittee, sent a letter to the FCC commissions Thursday, asking them “to determine if there is a way to allow use of jamming devices” in prisons “without having to move through the legislative process” on the Hill. He said FCC action on prison jamming rules would be the fastest way to prevent unauthorized cellphones use by inmates. “But if they don’t have legal authority, we will work on a legislative approach to this problem,” he said.
Green said he had asked the FCC in March to set policy on when cellular jamming or boosting devices can be used. But he said the matter has become much more urgent because of incidents like a Texas death-row inmate’s use of a contraband cellphone to threaten a state lawmaker this month. That prompted a search of prisons that uncovered dozens of contraband phones its first day.
CellAntenna CEO Howard Melamed acknowledged that the South Carolina jamming demonstration is illegal, “but we see no way we can get permission.” He said FCC commissioners and aides have been invited, along with other parties. “We want to prove to everyone that cellphone jamming in prisons isn’t a threat to public wireless communications,” he said.
Melamed said contraband cellphones in prisons are a worldwide problem, and foreign governments are moving toward cellphone jamming as the least costly, most-effective way of dealing with them. He said his company filed a petition with the FCC early in 2007 seeking waivers allowing state and local emergency responders faced with possible terrorist threats to use cellphone jamming devices to prevent remote- control detonation of bombs. He said the FCC hasn’t acted on it. He said cell jammers, sold overseas, are a small part of the company’s business.