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Cellphone jammer crammed into key fob, ends texting / talking while driving

by Darren Murph posted Dec 12th 2008 @ 9:27AM

Face it, kids. You missed the best time to be a teenager by around five or so years. As it stands now, technology is cutting into that adolescent fun, with device like Ford's MyKey and this one here ensuring that you're actually safe behind the wheel. In all seriousness, the terribly named Key2SafeDriving is a fine concept (at least in the parent's eye), as it fuses a cellphone jammer (of sorts) into a key fob in order to put the kibosh on freeway conversations. Essentially, the signal blocking kicks into action anytime the "key" portion is flicked out, connecting to a handset via Bluetooth or RFID and forcing it into "driving mode." No actual jamming, per se, is going on; it's more like a manual override of the ringer. Anyone who phones / texts you while you're safely driving will receive an automated response informing them of such, though we are told that handsfree devices can be utilized. Researchers at the University of Utah are hoping to see it on the market within six months via a private company "at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee."

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

Japan installs cellphone jammers near ATMs to prevent fraud

by Darren Murph posted Dec 10th 2008 @ 7:53PM

If you're tired of being scammed at ATMs by kind, gentle-hearted con artists (and then forgetting it ever happened), you'll be stoked to know that Japan is looking out for you. Chiba Bank has installed phone signal jammers at four unnamed ATMs at bank branches in the Tokyo region, and while it has gone down as the first institution to go to such lengths, we highly doubt it'll be the last. It's not entirely clear what exactly the criminals were able to convince people to do via mobile, but it's probably something like "psst... get me out some cheddar and meet around back." Not that we have any experience in the field or anything...

[Via textually]

AT&T decides some employees shouldn't see the future, changes mind

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 14th 2008 @ 4:57PM

Remember, carriers: you can't stop leaks, nor can you hope to contain them, and therefore any effort you put into dealing with them should be used to spin 'em to your advantage. That's a simple reality that sites like the very one you're presently reading have proven time and time again over the years. Alas, AT&T suddenly (and briefly) decided that most -- but not all -- of its employees shouldn't be clued into what's coming down the pike, blocking Boy Genius Report from its intranet for all but senior-level folks who presumably want to see what sort of scoops du jour have made their way into the public domain. That's really awesome, guys; good plan, because your sales force obviously has no other way to reach the internet, Boy Genius Report's scoops are never reposted elsewhere on unblocked sites, and clearly, it's in the best interest of the company for them to be as uninformed about your roadmap (and those of your competitors) as possible. Fortunately, it seems the decision was reversed almost as quickly as it was made to start with, so no harm, no foul. We guess.

T-Mobile working on advanced text blocking capability, maybe more

by Chris Ziegler posted May 15th 2008 @ 12:22PM

So we caught wind yesterday of rumors that T-Mobile was planning to offer several comprehensive levels of text and call blocking this summer, offering super-granular control over who exactly can reach your beloved handset. Options would include per-number blocking, SMS, MMS, IM, and email on an individual basis -- only free messages would still be unblockable. We contacted T-Mobile directly and got the following response: "We are working on a service we plan to launch this summer that would enable customers to block text messages (beyond what is available today)...stay tuned." In other words, yeah, it sounds like there are some more advanced options on the way. That's good news for us -- and bad news for our stalkers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

UK effectively blocking stolen phones

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 14th 2007 @ 11:55PM

What good is a stolen phone that's been blacklisted from networks, and the nefarious individuals formerly responsible for flashing them back into use have been scared off by the threat of five years' jail time? Not much good at all, we say, and a new study suggests that the UK's new laws fighting phone theft may be extraordinarily effective. On request from the government, the country's big five operators have started blocking stolen phones -- often within hours, and a full 80 percent within two days. Add in the fact that a new law taking effect this week makes handset reprogramming (to circumvent blacklisting) punishable by five years in the pokey and limitless fines, and we suspect a lot of these small-time criminals are going to be looking for new lines of work.

Carriers gang up on FreeConference

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 18th 2007 @ 6:39PM

Mobile carriers blocking numbers -- or entire ranges of numbers, for that matter -- isn't entirely unheard of; 900 and 976 numbers are frequently locked down, for example. Blocking legitimate services running on standard toll numbers is another matter entirely, though, and that seems to be what's happening here. FreeConference, which offers, well... free teleconferencing services by dialing into standard long distance numbers (as its name suggests) has had several of its lines locked out by AT&T, Sprint, and Qwest starting this month. At issue is the reason behind the sudden could shoulder, a reason disputed by FreeConference and the carriers. While FreeConference claims that the carriers are simply forcing users into using their own (more expensive) conferencing services, a more plausible (and slightly less blatantly illegal) explanation is that carriers are getting billed through the nose for termination fees stemming from FreeConference's non-toll-free numbers. Either way, it's uncool, and we're thinking it might be a good enough reason for frequent users to ultimately end up switching carriers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

London theatergoers: "Jam our phones"

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 10th 2006 @ 11:24AM

Losing reception can be a downright nerve-wracking experience for some of us, but if there's one place no one wants to hear a ring -- much less take a call -- we have to believe it's in live theater. It really comes as no surprise then that a recent poll conducted among theatergoers in London suggests that a full 72 percent would like to see jamming equipment installed to prevent calls from interrupting performances (if anything, we're surprised it's not higher). For the record, said equipment is currently illegal in the UK, but support is growing to legalize it for these kinds of environments. If it can all go down without jeopardizing legit signals, we suspect they'd find support for similar measures virtually everywhere in the world.

[Via Techdirt]

T-Mobile: no MinuteWatching for you

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 14th 2006 @ 8:07AM

If you're a wireless customer, it goes without saying that being able to micromanage your usage is a great thing. It also goes without saying that if you're a wireless carrier, it's not. As many of us have found out the hard way, it doesn't take much overage to double your bill, and carriers rely on that exactly that kind of carelessness to make some extra coin month to month. We told you about MinuteWatcher not long ago, a nifty free service for keeping an eye on your calling and predict future usage based on trending, and apparently T-Mobile doesn't think much of it; in fact, besides blocking MinuteWatcher's servers, they've gone ahead and amended their terms of service to specifically prohibit such services. For a company typically known for showing its customers much love, T-Mobile's move doesn't show a lot of tact -- but then again, nothing speaks louder than the almighty overage minute.