Frazzled Urbanites Turn to Personal Cellular Jammers

It's a common enough feeling. The girl on the bus or that guy in the back of the movie theater just will not shut up and get off the phone. How many times have you wished you could push a button and silence that cell phone, if only for a moment of peace? Well, it's not so tough to get it.

Cell phone jammers are one of the worst-kept secrets in the world of technology. They've been around, available on the gray market and from overseas importers for years now. But the technology is improving, prices are falling, and people seem to have had it with Chatty Cathys, all of which is driving them to new heights of popularity.

The latest jammers, as the New York Times reminds us, are about the size of a pack of cigarettes and can jam any cell phone in a 30-foot radius, essentially ending all nearby calls at the push of a button. "Deliverance!" is the comment from one San Francisco architect who shut down a "Valley Girl" conversation during his morning commute.

Jammers are of course illegal; using one can subject you to an $11,000 fine. This may seem harsh, but the rationale is that jamming can interfere with emergency calls; someone may be sick, or criminals might use one while robbing a bank. That said, it appears no one has yet to actually be caught or punished for using such a device, even a restaurant owner who installed one semi-permanently to keep his employees from yapping away during business hours.

A little web searching (or reading the second page of the linked article) will turn up numerous sites selling jammers. Fpr $150, you can get a model that jams all American cell phone technologies. Legal or not, I have to say the technology is awfully tempting. What do you think?

LINK: Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal