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IP: The cure is only slightly worse than the disease...: [risks] Risks Digest 21.78
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 06:04:09 -0500
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 12:56:57 -0700 From: "Stewart, Russell" <russtew () sandia gov> Subject: The cure is only slightly worse than the disease... This story taken off of the newswire today: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011121/od/tech_hongkong_champion_dc_1.html Concerns a signal-jamming technology being developed by a Hong Kong company to block cellphone calls in areas where they are not wanted. Not a bad idea, but the following excerpt caught my attention: "A Hong Kong company hopes to sell signal-jamming technology previously used by the military to thwart lethal missiles to block annoying cellphone calls in places such as hospitals, places of worship and restaurants." Hospitals? Now, I admit I know very little about jamming technology, but I know that, at the very least, it requires transmitting radio energy on the same frequency as the signal you are trying to jam. Presumably, it involves transmitting at a considerably higher power than that of the target signal. Now, as I understand it, hospitals' no-cellphone policy is based on the fear that the phones' radio transmissions might interfere with hospital equipment. Are we to understand, then, that they intend to combat the problem by installing a device that, by definition, must transmit on the same frequencies at the same or considerably greater power? I hope this was simply an error on the writer's part... Russell Stewart, Sandia National Laboratories russtew () sandia gov
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- IP: The cure is only slightly worse than the disease...: [risks] Risks Digest 21.78 David Farber (Nov 23)