You know what someone should invent?

[begin_within]

A personal cell phone "scrambler," which emits RF interference in a 30-foot radius around you, so that nobody can use a cell phone within 30 feet of you (such as when standing in line at the post office or bank, etc.). I know, the FCC would never let it happen, but wouldn't it be nice to blitz out that annoying guy making some kind of business deal in a loud voice while sitting in a dentist's waiting room? It could be justified on the basis of "protecting your own personal electromagnetic spectrum space."

[AlienAvatar]

1. I want one of those!

Bad. God, would that ever be a pleasure to be able to do that.

[LeftyMom]

2. I want one for work

I hate people who talk on their phones and ignore me while I ring them up, do their return, etc and get huffy and annoyed when I dare to interrupt their vitally important conversation with something like their total or a request for their signature on a charge slip.

[Rosemary2205]

3. These already exist.

Google cell phone jammer.

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/story1a092200.html (from 2000)

snip

Across the globe, cell phones disturb plays, concerts and films. Phones ring out during funerals and weddings. They bleep and buzz in trains, restaurants and bathrooms. Cell-phone-free zones, polite requests, even icy glares can't seem to stop the ringing and consequent jabbering.

snip

Five months ago, he installed the C-Guard cellular telephone firewall and complaints stopped. Made by an Israeli company called NetLine, the C-Guard is one of a handful of cell phone jammers commercially available today.

But don't go looking for one at your neighborhood electronics store.

"The technology is illegal in the U.S. and it's our position that it should be," said Travis Larson, spokesman for the Cellular Telephone Industry Association, based in Washington, D.C.


Much more at link.

[baldguy]

5. Someone's already suing to change that.

http://news.com.com/Company+challenges+FCC+rules+on+cell+phone-jamming+gear/2100-1036_3-6139854.html?tag=nefd.lede

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I'll want one for flying ...

... when they finally allow cell phones to be used during entire flights, I want a jammer. All the conversations will drive me crazy.

Also, a highly directional jammer might be fun, just to mess with obvious freeper conversations at a restaurant or on the street. Just to be an asshole.

[AlienAvatar]

7. I'd love to be an asshole

like that. Even though it would probably lead to an eventual violent death, I feel I would die a hero.

[MrSandman]

6. Violates FCC harmful interference rule...

Although a restaurant or store might possibly install a Faraday Shield...it emits no RF.

[Kat45]

8. It does exist, but it's illegal. n/t