FCC Chair Wants To Let Prisons Jam Illegal Cellphones
The agency will vote next month on relaxing its long-standing opposition to jammers.
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The US Federal Communications Commission announced today that it will vote on a new rule that would allow state prisons and jails to use cellphone jammers. The goal of the change would be to block use of illegal cellphones by inmates, since having outside contact could allow them to continue engaging in criminal activity.
The planned vote during the agency's open meeting on November 19 would consider allowing state and local incarceration facilities to opt in to using jammers; use of the tech would not be required. Any tech that interferes with communications signals is illegal for non-federal parties to use. In 2018, the Federal Bureau of Prisons began testing "micro-jamming" in federal prisons as a way to block unauthorized cellphone use by inmates. This move would potentially open up similar tools...
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