San Francisco’s BART cellphone shutdown prompts complaint to FCC

[cory777]

Source: Washington Post

Several public interest groups on Monday asked the Federal Communications Commission to declare that San Francisco transportation officials broke telecom laws by halting cellphone service ahead of planned demonstrations earlier this month.

Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) didn’t have the authority to shut down cell service in some stations to deter organizers of a planned Aug. 11 protest.

They focused their petition on alleged violations of communications law.

FCC spokesman Neil Grace said that the agency received the petition and that officials are “reviewing the petition and are continuing our assessment to collect information about BART’s actions and the important issues those actions raised.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/san-franciscos-bart-cellphone-shutdown-prompts-complaint-to-fcc/2011/08/29/gIQAW0XpnJ_blog.html

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[SavWriter]

1. I just picture a life or death situation

and being out of contact thanks to BART just turning the towers off.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. This is an interesting one to watch

Related:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/nokia-siemens-spy-systems/

Spy tools sold and maintained by German communications and engineering giants Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks are being used by authorities in Bahrain to aid in their interrogation and torture of human rights activists, according to Bloomberg.
(snip)
In 2009, NSN and Trovicor came under fire after The Wall Street Journal reported that the equipment was used by Iranian authorities to crack down on protesters involved in civil unrest following the country’s disputed presidential elections. An NSN spokesman defended the sale of the equipment to Iran at the time, saying the company provided the technology for “lawful intercept” purposes, such as combating terrorism, child pornography, drug trafficking and other criminal activity.
(snip)
Nikhil Gyamlani, a consultant who developed and installed some of the monitoring systems in the Middle East told Bloomberg he’s developing a new company, GlassCube, that he hopes will help curb some of those abuses. His company will offer remote kill switches and other technology that will help stop the abuses from afar when discovered.

So cell tech is playing an ambiguous role in things, WSJ attacked it when it was used for suppression in Iran, but not to my knowledge in Bahrain which is way more tied to Saudi Arabia...So you have this question of misuse being defined by who's using it. Then that last part, where the ability to disrupt lines will be controlled by these forces "from afar" points to a centralization of control of cell networks, and that bids ill for those protesting against the REAL powers.

[earcandle]

5. Yeah.. this poses a problem all around. This is way regulatory law, especially international

treaties on these kinds of regulations world wide are needed
to keep rules of law in order.

[kristopher]

3. I wonder if there will be any action at all...

I've about given up on regulatory enforcement that supports the individual over the powerful.

[earcandle]

4. How cool is that?

[earcandle]

6. For the city to be confronted on issues of freedom and safety directly in the face of one of its own

departments...