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Explosions at Boston Marathon

MNCyGuy said:
Honestly, we should probably be grateful that we live in a country where its still a big deal when this kind of happens and its not just a normal fact of life.
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Amen to that.
 
Is it possible that shutting cellphone access helped save those devices from going off? It seem strange that there would be so many devices that didn't go off.
 
mitten1975 said:
Is it possible that shutting cellphone access helped save those devices from going off? It seem strange that there would be so many devices that didn't go off.
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Yes.

Cell phones are commonly used as IED triggers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did they shut down the services or just jam cell phone frequencies?
 
TykeClone said:
Yes.

Cell phones are commonly used as IED triggers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did they shut down the services or just jam cell phone frequencies?
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guessing jammed. Husband just got home and he works for a cell company. Said Sprint and Verizon never got any orders to shut down.
 
TykeClone said:
Yes.

Cell phones are commonly used as IED triggers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did they shut down the services or just jam cell phone frequencies?
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Neither actually. Just got overloaded so most of them were useless. Someone thought they shut down services or jammed it and people ran with the story.
 
TykeClone said:
Yes.

Cell phones are commonly used as IED triggers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did they shut down the services or just jam cell phone frequencies?
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I was watching CNN and I heard they apparently did something almost immediately and everyone was in confusion not being able to use their cellphones. I don't know if it was jamming or shutting down services. It was fast, whatever it was.
 
clone52 said:
Neither actually. Just got overloaded so most of them were useless. Someone thought they shut down services or jammed it and people ran with the story.
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If that is the case, perhaps everyone going for their cellphone saved many lives. That would be an interesting twist to the story. I heard the death count is 3 now. I bet there will be more before it is over.
 
TykeClone said:
Interesting that they could move to jam those frequencies that quickly.
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I don't know if it could have been done at a governmental level though, you know? Like maybe Verizon didn't do it, but locally officials were able to shut down service.
 
3TrueFans said:
Yeah that doesn't seem that likely, but maybe. Lots of misinformation so it's hard to tell what's true and what's not.
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Wouldn't be too surprising to find out that they have a jammer handy in large metro areas just in case something were to happen.
 
I'd guess the FBI would have the capability, so that'd be a possibility. Is it legal for a police department to jam cell phones?
 
keepngoal said:
great question... I was thinking the same thing.

. Source on that... Potential terrorist attack and this is illegal?
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HowStuffWorks "Cell Phone Jamming Legal Issues"

In the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and many other countries, blocking cell-phone services (as well as any other electronic transmissions) is against the law. In the United States, cell-phone jamming is covered under the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits people from "willfully or maliciously interfering with the radio communications of any station licensed or authorized" to operate. In fact, the "manufacture, importation, sale or offer for sale, including advertising, of devices designed to block or jam wireless transmissions is prohibited" as well.

Jamming is seen as property theft, because a private company has purchased the rights to the radio spectrum, and jamming the spectrum is akin to stealing the property the company has purchased. It also represents a safety hazard because jamming blocks all calls in the area, not just the annoying ones. Jamming a signal could block the call of a babysitter frantically trying to contact a parent or a someone trying to call for an ambulance.
The Federal Communications Commission is charged with enforcing jamming laws. However, the agency has not yet prosecuted anyone for cell-phone jamming. Under the U.S. rules, fines for a first offense ca*n range as high as $11,000 for each violation or imprisonment for up to one year, and the device used may also be seized and forfeited to the government.
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That being said, I'm sure that they could have had an FCC waiver on it?
 
A math teacher at my school from russia had a cell phone jammer that he used in his classroom.
 
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