Mubarak A Role Model For SF Subway Officials

Attempting to stymie an upcoming protest against fatal shootings by transit police, San Francisco Bay Area Transit (BART) officials disabled underground cellphone service at San Francisco subway stations for three hours. BART insists the action was legal, but has not given concrete evidence to support the claim. The unintended risk created by BART's actions is that if a commuter needed police or emergency assistance as a result of the protest or a train accident, the commuter would be unable to call 911.

BART has been unusually specific about the method used, saying that it merely turned off the electricity to the cell phone transponders, as opposed to using cell phone jamming technology (this blogger doesn't see why that would make any difference). BART said that they had help from the carriers to execute the cell phone service interruption

Network outage is one of the FCC's greatest concerns, and the agency regulations require that the provider - usually the company to whom the customer pays - tell customers their service is going to go dark. Based on past actions taken by the FCC, such actions as blocking/interfering with 911 call access is considered illegal and usually warrants investigation. From an incident earlier this year:

The FCC is investigating the possibility that a Verizon service blackout prevented subscribers from connecting 911 calls and reaching the local fire department. The inability to complete the calls may have resulted in the destruction of Maryland woman's house...Many residents of Maryland's Montgomery and Price George's counties experienced similar disruptions of service, and the FCC is attempting to figure out the cause.

Let's hope that the protesters file suit against BART and pressure the FCC into launching an investigation into the actions of BART and the local cell carriers.