CTIA, Senate Republicans Disagree on Jamming Contraband Cellphones
The debate over whether the FCC should allow nonfederal correctional facilities to jam contraband phones was reignited. CTIA said other solutions are enough. Seven Republican senators said jamming should be an option. Comments were filed Thursday in docket 13-111, in response to a July record refresh. Ajit Pai has expressed concerns about the danger of contraband devices since before he became commission chairman (see 1604060058). Two years ago, Pai convened a Contraband Phone Task Force (see 1904260029). Public safety experts said it’s unclear Pai will do more in his remaining time as chairman given a crowded agenda.
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“State correctional facilities are in dire need of access to all available technological solutions,” wrote GOP Sens. James Lankford, Okla.; Tom Cotton, Ark.; John Kennedy, La.; David Purdue, Ga.; Thom Tillis, N.C.; Kelly Loeffler, Ga.; and John Boozman, Ark. “Correctional personnel need access to all available options. We therefore support the use of geofencing, quiet zones, network-based solutions, and beacon technology,” they said: “We support the continued examination of how prisons could safely use jammers and micro-jammers.” Earlier this week, Kennedy invited carrier executives to testify (see 2009160051). The FCC declined to comment.
“Our work has demonstrated that there are effective solutions available today to interdict contraband devices, such as Managed Access Systems (MAS) and cell detection,” CTIA said: “These two approaches provide options that can assist corrections officials in both large and small facilities.” Jamming would be “bad policy,” the group said. CTIA proposed a contraband interdiction solution (CIS) framework: “The FCC would direct wireless providers to terminate service to a list of specified devices that have been identified by an FCC-certified CIS solution as contraband and forwarded to the FCC by a designated official." Carriers would “act to terminate service at the explicit direction of the FCC.”
“The wireless industry takes the issue of contraband phones seriously, and combating the problem requires a multifaceted, multi-industry approach by all stakeholders and solutions that protect lawful communications,” a CTIA spokesperson emailed: The evolution of MAS technology “will allow for seamless automated interoperation with commercial wireless networks. By capturing calls from within a prison facility, corrections officials are best able to prevent calls by inmates on illegal devices.”
The Correctional Leaders Association wants jamming on the table. MAS, “in its current state, is neither a cost effective nor reliable solution," CLA said. The Federal Bureau of Prisons “is allowed to use jamming technology, whereas the states are prohibited,” it said: “This disparate treatment between state and federal correctional systems does not bear a rational relationship to the problem.”
APCO warned jamming could imperil calls to 911. “If the threats to public safety communications and access to 9-1-1 are ignored,” the FCC “risks replacing one public safety problem with another,” APCO said. The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council shares those concerns.
“Rather than attempt to precisely determine and locate contraband wireless devices, jamming serves as a blunt instrument that effectively blocks all calls, whether legitimate or unauthorized,” T-Mobile said: “It also sometimes requires the installation of many jammers, which only magnifies and extends geographically the negative impacts of such a blunt technology.”
Adopt an FCC process for terminating service to contraband devices, Verizon said. “Make explicit that a provider directed or ordered to terminate service lacks discretion to do otherwise and is immune from any legal action for following such an order or directive,” the carrier said: “The process should use a form for the state to submit to wireless companies and the Commission.”
AT&T said the work that industry is doing in cooperation with corrections officials is succeeding. “MAS-Evolved systems will build on the success of managed access systems and that the Commission should focus its efforts in this proceeding on enabling the widespread adoption,” AT&T commented.
Global Tel*Link said the FCC should allow jamming “when budgetary and security considerations associated with particular correctional facilities render it the most effective.” Weigh the “threat of ‘overjamming’ and interference with lawful mobile communication in considering whether and how to best deploy jamming technologies on a widespread basis,” the company said.