Cellphones blocked in SF to hinder transit protest

TIME to go old school. And do it now if you haven't. Get walkie talkies and hand held cb radios. Get one for the car too. Make plans as to what channels to use and switch to as needed.

Start using your fancy printers to print out messages to pass on. When your cell phone isn't working you can't forget email.

Learn to use sign language, or set up different hand signals for different actions.

Really, tptb are not counting on anyone organizing like this. Go old school.

Originally posted by Angry Danish


2:45 - 3:30 in the video.

What makes an effective protest? It has to disrupt normal every day activity. Unfortunately, this is illegal everywhere in the USA. Besides, they can just gut the protests by shutting off cellphone towers.

What a @$^ing joke.

THEY HAVE SHUT THEM DOWN up here. My husband and I were researching something that tptb apparently didn't like. I WILL NOT mention that here. Our service was shut off for three entire days with no explanation. Our neighbors has the same service, and theirs was ON. We were BLOCKED from using the internet.

Shhh just got real you see. TPTB will start doing this more and more.

Good thing you guys don't live in my city, hanloncreek5.wordpress.com...

The city got so upset with these people for protesting they were going to sue them for $5 million but still that does strip the rights of those who protest peacefully, they did, however they kinda trespassed on some land that was slated for development.

This is a violation of the FCC code about not blocking or hindering in anyway cell phone communications.
FCC rules read "You must notify your customers in writing as far in advance as possible if you are going to discontinue, reduce or impair domestic service for any reason," even for bankruptcy, which isn't the issue in the BART case.

The bottom line is the rules placed in the Communications Act of 1934 are clear, and the FCC gives little "wiggle room" in the enforcement of the act.

If you were a victim of the BART action and wish to file a complaint with the FCC. To file a complaint alerting the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, please visit www.fcc.gov/complaints or call 1-888-CALL-FCC.

A few things to consider:
1) BART cannot operate it's own repeaters unless it has license to broadcast in the affected wireless bands (cellular, PCS, AWS, etc.).
2) Various providers including AT&T, Verizon & Sprint/NexTel and possibly T-Mobile and MetroPCS have leased space within BART facilities and operate their own transceivers (macrocell, microcell, repeater, NodeB or otherwise).
3) If the phone service provides 911 services (E911 for cell phones), shutting them down without advance authorization / notification to the 911 provider is subject to fines.
4) Wireless telecommunications services are considered an essential public utility and as such cannot be interrupted without due process. 911 services are a bit different than power and water service due to the "imminent" nature of said service and generally can NEVER be interrupted unless due to technical issues or complete failure of the system... and then there's a whole bucket full of crap to deal with if that's the case.

If you are in a place of residence, and wired service is in place, the phone is able to place 911 calls even if the power and water are off- that is a requirement all telecom providers must adhere to. Similar regulations are in place for wireless providers in as much as their networks must be able to process 911 calls even if the phone is not activated. If there are no towers or such in the area they are exempt from the requirement, but once coverage has been established within an area such coverage, and consequently 911 service, must be maintained.

To the best of my knowledge, PG&E and emergency responders (fire / rescue) are the only entities with authorization to, without prior consent, disconnect power to any wireless telecommunications facility and can only do so if there is either an emergency situation such as fire or if there is a court order to do so. Neither non-payment of the electric bill or lease / rent are sufficient on their own without due process through the legal system since, as I mentioned above, such services are public utility. There have been cases where a site under construction has installed temporary power via a generator prior to receiving final inspection of electrical services and the controlling authorities [LADWP (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) and the City of Los Angeles in one case I'm aware of,] were unable to get the generator disconnected due to the site being powered up and handling E911 services; courts wouldn't issue an order to turn it off as well because of the E911 situation.

Anyone adversely affected by BART turning off the services do have potential legal recourse. And that means, basically, anyone who needed 911 services while within any of those facilities and was unable to receive service as a direct result of the outage can potentially sue BART. Similarly, anyone affected by the outage may have recourse but your chances are slim to none of receiving a judgment in your favor. FCC and other entities could also sanction BART for the outage, as well as sanction any wireless carrier that knowingly participated in the outage.

From another perspective: for those of you familiar with the SF area, you know about the Caldecott Tunnels. AT&T has installed repeaters for GSM services in all 3 tubes... I know that as fact because I installed them. Were CalTrans to arbitrarily decide to cut AT&T's service within the tubes, CalTrans could potentially be on the hook for anything resulting from a lack of service there. However, that's not likely going to be an issue as CalTrans routinely travels the tubes to check for disabled vehicles and the like.

Cheers.
Now do what you will.

reply to post by th3dudeabides


Thanks for providing the info to FCC for filing complaints.
But bear in mind "domestic" comes from "domicile", which means "place of residence" and therefore "domestic" is of or about, or related to, the home.

Cell phones are not "domestic".

reply to post by hypr2011


WHats wrong with cutting off a terrorists groups means of communication?..get real

Originally posted by Homedawg
reply to post by hypr2011

 

WHats wrong with cutting off a terrorists groups means of communication?..get real

Who defines "terrorist"?

Originally posted by abecedarian

Originally posted by Homedawg
reply to post by hypr2011

 

WHats wrong with cutting off a terrorists groups means of communication?..get real

Who defines "terrorist"?

So just because there are points that can be debated on this topic until the End of Time,the ability shouldnt be used NOW to prevent violence that is KNOWN to be imminent?...so we just box the technology/technique/idea up and wait until very single human on the planet is satisfied?..."The purpose of terroriem is to terrorize"-Lenin...so "Terrorist" is anyone who is planning to/advocates the act of terror......debate all you want to try to keep it out of use...that is here to stay...look for lots more outages in certain events

reply to post by hypr2011

I guess since it is an elite power tool they can shut it on and off at will. No telling what else they may be
able to do with the stuff.
I did not watch this but started to watch it..don't often post links but this looks interesting considering..
www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by Homedawg
So just because there are points that can be debated on this topic until the End of Time,the ability shouldnt be used NOW to prevent violence that is KNOWN to be imminent?...so we just box the technology/technique/idea up and wait until very single human on the planet is satisfied?..."The purpose of terroriem is to terrorize"-Lenin...so "Terrorist" is anyone who is planning to/advocates the act of terror......debate all you want to try to keep it out of use...that is here to stay...look for lots more outages in certain events

Sounds great dawg. Better to keep the masses down instead of just responding to extreme events.
Is that what you're implying?

You're confusing at the least and incoherent at best.

WHOA NELLY. 3 of the neighbors decided to run around and break windows....
I'm glad my phone doesn't work.

People should start looking into other forms of communication. Cell phones are not the end all be all of communication and I think people are forgetting that.

Go to radioshack and pick up some CB radios. For some of them you need a hand held CB license in order to operate them. It's easy to obtain a CB license.

Originally posted by SentientBeing13
People should start looking into other forms of communication. Cell phones are not the end all be all of communication and I think people are forgetting that.

Go to radioshack and pick up some CB radios. For some of them you need a hand held CB license in order to operate them. It's easy to obtain a CB license.

Although it's a nice backup, a CB won't do what E911 cell services can and you don't need a license for CB radio in most countries, USA included. 26.295-27.405 MHz are mostly unlicensed everywhere.

You do however need a license for some of the FRS and GMRS services.

Welcome to the Soviet States of America.

reply to post by SentientBeing13


Didnt the fcc or are they about to impose some sort of law on all the cb air waves? Are they about to control that too?

Originally posted by ICEKOHLD
awesome! glad this happened! seriously! people need to stop relying on technology to take their country back! they gave us technology to get us used to it, to get us soooo accustomed to it that we "need" it to do anything!

they can turn a cellphone tower off....but they can't turn an angry group of protestors already crowded together. stop using phones and social network sites to congregate. start using friends and word of mouth. any and everything you post online/text message is tracked/monitored.

so hey you dumba$$ americans...stop talking/texting about it and just do it! let them strip us of their technology! we don't need it anyways! we're gonna take this land back one way or another...you mark my words! they can stop the phone calls but THEY CANNOT STOP THE MOVEMENT!

edit on 8/13/11 by ICEKOHLD because: (no reason given)

We do need to stop relying on technology- but at the same time, using all the tools presently available is prudent. We need to defend what we've got, but at the same time be prepared for when it's taken away...

While looking around for some information I stumbled across this site and thought it was good information for this thread

Censorship Is Not a Public Safety Strategy

reply to post by hypr2011


So it's only a matter of time before Egypt comes to liberate us, right? I mean, we stood by them when Mubarak pulled this crap.

Originally posted by alfa1
Already posted.
www.abovetopsecret.com...


But for all those people outraged, remember that BART have no obligation to provide such a phone service on their system in the first place. Much like a wifi at McDonalds, or a private individual leaving his wireless router open for th public to use.

If they switch off their own property, what gives you the right to be outraged?

All cell phone broadcasts are regulated by the FCC. That's how they prevent overlapping or competition on the same frequency. Under your philosophy, the government could shut off all cell towers since it has the right to regulate broadcasts. Shutting off cell towers is no different from shutting down newspapers - you're preventing communication you don't like by shutting down all communication. It's not constitutional.