I don’t really see any ethical issues associated with cellphone jammers so long as legitimate users (hospital, government building) disclose that there is no cellphone service available in that area. If it’s upfront, I don’t have a problem.

They could be quite useful. Movie theatres for example. No more whispering in the background while the movie’s playing. Better yet no commercials before the movie trying in more and more ‘original and creative’ ways to tell you to turn them off. 

I would imagine the US military uses them in the field, and if not then I have an idea to pitch to them! What better way to demoralize and take out communication between your enemies then by cutting them off at their Hit Me Baby One More Time ringtone. If the military can turn off GPS, they can wipe a cellphone. 

Now unfortunately something like a jammer is ripe with opportunities for abuse. The first thing I thought was that it could be the future premise for a movie of the week. A high powered business exec or broker is prevented from making that ‘life saving call’ by a notable lack of landlines and competitors trailing him with a jammer. Down plummets the stock. The knives come out for the broker, who must salvage his reputation. Make it a ‘her’. Then there are the people who just want to make a nuisance of themselves, cutting off other people’s calls on street corners, on public transportation etc. That would be a nightmare, elevators are bad enough. 

Although…the idea of shutting up the loudmouth on the train who just can’t help but announce to his phone that his hemorrhoids are acting up would be a delight. In fact who’s the more unethical in that situation? Really? :-) 

My two cents.

(by anonymous)

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 2:07 am and is filed under Notes & Queries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.