Prisons Struggle with Influx of Cell Phones

It would be fairly straightforward to work with the service providers and stop this. You would put a few sensors - basically stripped down cell towers- around each facility and shut down any phone that tries to dial out from that geographic location. You would need an exception list for authorized phones. Now the inmates would have to smuggle in a new phone for each call, which would limit things.

 

you'd think the fcc would be reasonable here. geez.

 

Local cell sites have been a reality for quite some time, used in
buildings and locations that otherwise wouldn't be able to reach
the usual towers. But they're generally only installed for one type
of carrier/modulation per; you'd have to blanket every service type
to cover the possibilities.
.
Or just wrap the whole prison in a faraday cage...
.
_H*

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Oct 20 2007, 08:00 AM) [snapback]528151[/snapback]</div>

I'm guessing it would be very difficult to jam cell phones within a prison without also jamming phones outside the prison and interfering seriously with radio spectrum communications on bands adjacent to the cell-phone frequencies.

You might end up with a situation where police and emergency services would be unable to communicate within an arbitrary radius of a prison.

I think the FCC is being reasonable.

What's not reasonable is how absurdly easy it is to smuggle pretty much anything into a prison due to lax procedures and corrupt prison staff. I have heard that most contraband is brought into prisons by guards. It's profitable.

 

Solution is to decriminalize illicit drugs.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 20 2007, 09:27 AM) [snapback]528170[/snapback]</div>

Not difficult at all. The technology exists and is in use in other parts of the world.

Cell Block Technologies - Overview

Cell Block Technologies - <span style="font-family:Trebuchet">options dealing with illicit cell phone use</span>

Cell Phone Jamming Device a Godsend for Movie Theater Patrons

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 20 2007, 11:27 AM) [snapback]528170[/snapback]</div>

Unfortunately, it's the system thats the real problem, not the guards. you have a guard making 30k a year who thinks to himself "i could make another 30k each year if i just bring a few items in each week... it's not really hurting anyone, is it?" And whats the worst that could happen? A slap on the wrist, they get fired, and work as a security guard at the mall down the street making the same amount of money.

If we want to stop corruption, we have to take away the incentives that lead to corruption. Pay these guards a decent amount (maybe in the upper 25% of the industry's salary?). Make penalties for infractions severe. Basically, make it a job that's worth keeping so these people won't take the risk of losing it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Oct 20 2007, 02:36 PM) [snapback]528236[/snapback]</div>

The technology has been around over 20 years. I've had contracts back when we used pretty expensive Hewlett Packard VXI mainframes to capture cell phone ESN/MIN's pairs over a single site, or multiple sites. Back then we had to manually track the pairs, and that was a PITA.

But once you have identified the pair - either manually or through software - and have fully characterized the signal, you have very powerful means of tracking, listening, and even tricking that pair.

Or, once you have the ESN/MIN it's fairly straightforward to disable just that pair, you don't have to do something as crude as jam an entire spectrum. There are probably legitimate uses for cell phones even in prisons.

Now we have much more reasonably priced gadgets - most fit into a briefcase - that can do the same thing. Of course, if you have to snoop for burst transmission or exotic frequencies in the upper GHz range, the Agilent E3238S and Agilent 35688E-AU1 are still available. They even have nice modern software to automate most of the signal scan/intercept process. At least you no longer need two husky guys to pick the damn thing up. Wish I was still in that line of work, very interesting gadgets

I perceive this as being a slippery slope. Yes, it's very easy to intercept/disable/jam cell phone transmissions at the individual cell phone level. You can also do the same thing with text messaging - eg Blackberry - and old fashioned pagers. The obvious Invasion Of Privacy issue pops up

I also perceive the cell phone carriers refusing to work with officials to mitigate this problem. The cell phone carriers probably have legal issues to worry about, at least in North America and western Europe/Australia. Those legal issues probably don't exist in most Developing or Third world countries, hence Nortel using Canadian taxpayer monies to develop the Great Firewall of China - Nortel Shasta Broadband Service Node

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 20 2007, 11:27 AM) [snapback]528170[/snapback]</div>

Or how absurdly easy it was for JFK airport workers to bypass "security" and smuggle narcotics into the US. The same amount of explosives packed into a suitcase, the airliner is coming down in very small pieces. Don't you feel so much *safer* knowing these characters are our first line of defense against all the Bad People out there?

Perhaps if we had firing squads to deal with corrupt "security" folks at airports, corrupt cops, and corrupt prison guards, we really would be safer. Ever notice how WE are always looked upon with suspicion, but THEY never are??

 

Why not require a "cow" from each service provider (in case of T-Mobile, require AT&T) to be installed at the prison site? Any calls going to the "cow" will be sent a busy signal.

"cow" stands for "Cellsite on Wheels". Service providers commonly drive their "cow" to sporting events so that customers do not get the busy tone.