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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » Cellphone jammers to be installed in French cinemas (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: Cellphone jammers to be installed in French cinemas
Leo Enticknap
Film God

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From: Loma Linda, CA
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- posted 10-12-2004 06:44 AM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
[Big Grin] [Big Grin] [Big Grin]
quote:
French cinemas act to jam mobiles

Mobile phone signals will be jammed in French cinemas and theatres to prevent the devices disturbing the audience. The French government has backed a move to install equipment to block signals in cinemas, concert halls and theatres.

Emergency phone calls and calls outside the performance area will still be permitted, however. Jean Labbe, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas, said the measure followed "a long-standing request" by cinemas.

French industry minister Patrick Devedjian backed the move, supporting a decision by France's Telecommunications Regulation Authority. Mr Labbe told France Info radio that cinemas had invested heavily to improve comfort and "the authorisation of jammers is the cherry on the cake".

Last year, cinema owners in Dublin were told they were breaking the law by installing a mobile phone signal blocker. Ireland's communications regulator told bosses at Ward Anderson - the company that owns the Savoy cinema - they would be fined up to 25,000 euros (£17,200) if they did not remove the blocking device. Ward Anderson, which owns 200 of Ireland's cinemas, installed the signal blocker after the disruption caused by people talking or receiving text messages became a "problem".

Last month, actor Kevin Spacey declared London's Old Vic theatre a "phone-free zone" during his tenure as its artistic director. "We certainly don't want them ringing and people ignoring them pretending that it's not theirs," he said. "My feeling is if people don't know how to behave they shouldn't come."
Link.

I don't understand how 'emergency calls will still be permitted' though. Presumably the jammers just block all signals in the GSM band. Maybe they're clever enough to detect when someone is making a 999 call and let that through.

Here is a more detailed article (in French), with technical information about how the jammers work, info on how their use has been permitted under French law and quotes from an interview with Olivier Snanoudj, Director-General of the Fédération nationale des cinémas français, in which he expresses misgivings about being forced into installing jammers, but feels that his members have no other choice. There's no mention of how they'd let emergency calls through.

I wish our government would do likewise and let us jam the f-----g things.

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Eric Hooper
Jedi Master Film Handler

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From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: May 2003

- posted 10-12-2004 11:03 AM      Profile for Eric Hooper   Email Eric Hooper   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Bring 'em on!!

Cell phones should also be jammed on public transportation rail subways and busses...

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Mike Blakesley
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- posted 10-12-2004 11:35 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Leo Enticknap
I don't understand how 'emergency calls will still be permitted' though.
Leo, read the whole sentence in the article. It says emergency calls will be permitted outside the performance area.

I hope this spreads worldwide immediately!

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Dean Kollet
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From: Florida State University
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- posted 10-12-2004 12:08 PM      Profile for Dean Kollet   Email Dean Kollet   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
how exactly do they "block" these signals? If it's just insulating a theatre so that signals won't go through the walls or something that's ok. But if they are using a jammer or something electronic...sounds kinda shady to me. Also, why no cell phones in the subway and bus?

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

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From: Albuquerque, NM
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- posted 10-12-2004 12:28 PM      Profile for Paul Mayer   Author's Homepage   Email Paul Mayer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
All you have to do is transmit a carrier on the same frequencies. Make it strong enough that it, and not outside signals, capture the cell phones' receivers. Modulate it with a looped digitized junk bitstream and it will mask outside carriers and their sidebands.

I'm all for banning the damn things on buses and subways too. Here, cells are banned on public transportation, along with anything else that makes noise like radios, music players or computer games. Headsets are fine as long as neighboring passengers can't hear them. Most cell users seem to be incredibly blind to just how annoying their usually loud one-sided conversations are. That's what text messaging is for. If people don't want to behave in public places I'm all for imposing a standard on them.

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Leo Enticknap
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From: Loma Linda, CA
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- posted 10-12-2004 12:34 PM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Mike: it actually says 'emergency calls and outside the performance area', which I took to mean that their system would not block 999/911 calls inside the cinema. But I'm sure you're right and the journalist actually means that the jammers won't affect anywhere outside the actual auditorium.

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David Stambaugh
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From: Eugene, Oregon
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- posted 10-12-2004 07:21 PM      Profile for David Stambaugh   Author's Homepage   Email David Stambaugh   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I read it the same way Leo did.

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Mark J. Marshall
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- posted 10-12-2004 10:31 PM      Profile for Mark J. Marshall     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I kinda like the idea of the personal jammers that look like cell phones and work for up to a fifty meter radius.

[evil] [evil] [evil]

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John Hawkinson
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- posted 10-13-2004 01:40 AM      Profile for John Hawkinson   Email John Hawkinson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
A jamming device can allow emergency calls by masquerading as a real cell site and filtering the outbound calls and disallowing all inbound calls. Obviously this is trickier and requires the cooperation of the phone provider (or very devious techniques). But it is possible.

I agree it is unlikely [Wink] .

--jhawk

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Leo Enticknap
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- posted 10-13-2004 02:34 AM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mark J. Marshall
I kinda like the idea of the personal jammers that look like cell phones and work for up to a fifty meter radius.
They do exist - although not (as far as I'm aware) with as big a range as 50 metres. After one nightmare train journey in which several people were repeatedly ignoring the 'no mobiles' rule in the quiet carriage I did some googling. This gizmo would have done the job perfectly. The problem is that using them is illegal in the UK and therefore in order to protect themselves, the people who make these jammers won't sell them here. I did briefly wonder what would happen if I just turned up on their doorstep and offered to pay cash (i.e. no record of the transaction need be created), but can't really be bothered to make a 600-mile round trip just on the offchance.

I can see the need for these things to be regulated - for example, if they were freely available, criminals could use them to prevent people from calling help during an armed robbery. So I wouldn't mind a system whereby you had to get a licence and, as part of that process, state where and justify why you want to install a jammer. But, like the French, I can't see any defensible reason for a continuing outright ban.

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Mark Hajducki
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- posted 10-13-2004 09:26 AM      Profile for Mark Hajducki   Email Mark Hajducki   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: John Hawkinson
A jamming device can allow emergency calls by masquerading as a real cell site and filtering the outbound calls and disallowing all inbound calls. Obviously this is trickier and requires the cooperation of the phone provider (or very devious techniques). But it is possible.
Mobile phones can make emergancy calls using any avaliable (and compatible) network, a 'fake' network could be created that allowed emergancy calls to be made. It would be a lot easier (and cheaper) to provide an 'emergancy' land line phone in each screen.

One issue that would need to be resolved is keeping the jammed area in the required area, there would be problems if other, nearby areas (such as houses, public streets) were also jammed.

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Leo Enticknap
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From: Loma Linda, CA
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- posted 10-13-2004 11:34 AM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Sure: which is why these things probably do need to be regulated in some way. Licensed jammers would also have to emit a signal that could clearly be detected as a jammer signal as distinct from just a weak carrier, so that anyone complaining about a jammer affecting adjoining properties could get it properly investigated and the signal strength turned down if necessary.

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Ramin Hashemi
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From: Houston TX
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- posted 10-13-2004 08:17 PM      Profile for Ramin Hashemi   Email Ramin Hashemi   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Although cell phones in public areas is annoying, they are necessary for in coming emergencies. Banning them might be like throwing the baby out with the bath water.

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Gordon McLeod
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- posted 10-13-2004 09:31 PM      Profile for Gordon McLeod   Email Gordon McLeod   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote"Although cell phones in public areas is annoying, they are necessary for in coming emergencies. Banning them might be like throwing the baby out with the bath water."
Since you are in a movie theatre which is entertainment then one should not be in a situation that doesn't leave those emergancies covered by other means

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Mike Blakesley
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From: Forsyth, Montana
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- posted 10-14-2004 02:46 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Right. I've worked at this theatre for nearly 30 years and I've never had an incident come up where it couldn't be handled via a phone call directly to the theatre. If your life is really THAT important that you can never be out of touch for a second, then you probably shouldn't go to the movies.

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