News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by amelius on Sunday August 29, 2021 @08:51AM (#28346286)
This could be nice to have one on a commute where one person on the train decides to have a loud telephone conversation. And you'll only have to use it for a minute or so; too short for authorities to track you down, and too short to cause serious damage.
Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by jdavis703 on Sunday August 29, 2021 @09:36AM (#28346568)
What if you jam the railroad communication on accident? Do you know what frequencies the engineer, conductors and operations center is using?
Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by amelius on Sunday August 29, 2021 @11:01AM (#28347243)
Well first of all, if their service critically depends on wireless communication, then that's bad design.

Further, I imagine you turn up the amount of power of the jammer until the person on the phone gets bad reception.

Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by jdavis703 on Sunday August 29, 2021 @11:57AM (#28347754)
I don’t know what you mean by critically. But everything from calling law enforcement for pedestrian and vehicle strikes to handling special operations (i.e. single tracking in a work zone) uses wireless communication.

There are also defect detection systems that rely on radio transmissions to indicate if a train is for example dragging equipment.

Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by waste_monk on Monday August 30, 2021 @12:02AM (#28352707)
And if someone in the next train carriage dies because they're having a heart attack and no-one can call for help (including the driver/conductor), you'd be liable for manslaughter.

Loud conversations in a public place are annoying, but guess what? it's a public space, and you don't have a right to quiet there, let alone exclusive control over radio communications. The sheer entitlement in your post is astounding.

Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by leephillips on Sunday August 29, 2021 @11:14AM (#28347363)
I’ve heard of this psychological problem some people have: where they are disturbed by nearby people talking on the phone. Is there a name for it?
Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by guenthert on Sunday August 29, 2021 @02:08PM (#28349031)
The trouble is that half the conversation is missing, involuntarily increasing the attention of bystanders. Lauren Emberson called that 'halfalog'. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/095679761038212...
Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by amelius on Sunday August 29, 2021 @11:46AM (#28347628)
Some people just want to commute in silence without listening to overly loud work-related calls made by other people.
Re:Police find electronic signal-jamming device inside Calif... by leephillips on Sunday August 29, 2021 @12:25PM (#28348061)
I’m one of those people, myself. But then I remember that public transportation means that there might be other people around, and we’re not at a concert where people are not allowed to talk, and that I can’t always get what I want, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones.