Movie Theater Owners Hope To Jam Up Phone Users
from the this-won't-make-the-films-any-better dept
Actively blocking radio signals is illegal in the US, but a group of movie theater owners plans to petition the FCC for permission to jam cell phone signals in their theaters to try to cut down on rude behavior. While we get annoyed by morons answering their phones during movies as much as anyone, letting theater owners block the signals seems a little bit extreme, as well as tempting a lawsuit from an angry parent when their kid's babysitter can't get through to tell them he swallowed some antifreeze. There's little question that movie theaters need to improve the movie-going experience, but assuming that everybody that comes in with a phone is going to be rude and talk on it during the film isn't the way to do it. In any case, jamming radio signals is illegal, with good reason, and "to stop rudeness" really isn't valid justification for making an exception.
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No Subject Given
Oh, right they didnt. Children died, people got lost in traffic, and companies closed because those busy executives and super-moms just werent available.
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Re: No Subject Given
Or, the babysitter just sent you a text message that you can read and even quickly reply to without disturbing a single other moviegoer.
The fact that you can recieve cell phone calls in the theatre isn't the problem, the problem is the idiots who *answer* their phones in the theatre.
The most ideal situation would be a signal that all phones were required to obey that would automatically disable their ringers and prevent you from answering incoming calls (though not prevent you from seeing that they are coming in).
Also, jammers are not that discriminate, they are most likely going to have to block entire theatres, if not entire city blocks just to ensure that you phone can't be answered inside a single small room.
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Re: No Subject Given
guess what smart asses, life goes on without cinema theaters as well (if not more). I can't believe people are addicted to their precious cinema experience so much as to kill our communication in favor of watching a god damn movie.
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Re: No Subject Given
With that said I wish they would do it, as people have proven to be too rude and stupid to be trusted to do the polite thing and turn your damn phones off. Seriously, I don't care if your kid dies, or your mom, or your dog. No one else in the theater gives a shit about you or your so-called "emergency" either, in fact in a more perfect world you would be more concerned about getting your ass kicked for disrupting everyone else's movie.
Even if it was a real medical emergency, so what? what are you gonna do about it that can't wait until after the movie? by leaving your phone on in the theater, you've already proven that your a disruptive nuisance, so it's probably best that you weren't around while the EMT's or firefighters were handling the emergency as you would probably annoy the shit out of them and make the situation worse.
The right thing for all of you self-important, inconsiderate, cellphone using dickheads would be to turn your phones OFF in the auditorium, and if you were that worried about an emergency, get off your ass, walk out into the lobby and check your messages every 15 minutes or so.
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Well I suppose every argument has strengths and we
This is not to say, however, that I support blocking. I don't support it, because of the utter lack of any need for a backbone. Anyone who is too afraid to confront rude customers and eject them from your place of business, has no business running a theater, or any other franchise for that matter. You're a failure, and you need to pursue a far less complex career.
Also, the stupidity involved is amazing; let's pay thousands and thousands of dollars for permits and equipment to block cell phone signals, when we could pay less money to hire someone brave enough to tell people to leave when necessary. Absolutely asinine.
And for those of you who assume I don't own a cell phone, you should know that I'm a particularly involved Computer Science major who is regularly in the presence of the most high tech equipment the general populous has never seen. However, when I go to my parents' place for 3 months each year, I have no computer, and no cell reception for the entire stay.
So yes, life can exist without high tech toys. And in all honesty, I prefer those 3 months to the rest of the year. I only put up with technology because of the ridiculous amounts of money involved if you manipulate the right people.
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Re: Well I suppose every argument has strengths an
Besides, even if the theater manager/employee confronts an unruly cell user, you still have a major distraction on your hands. Better to jam the stupid phones quietly. Being incommunicado for 90 minutes won't kill you.
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good!
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
We dont charge $ 10.00 a head our's is $ 6.00. We dont force you to watch any commericals. We limit the number of previews to 3. All our ads and policys are shown prior to the start time of the movies on our pre-show. And we don't soak you for concessions either. Our business is good.
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No Subject Given
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no need to jam
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Re: no need to jam
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Re: no need to jam
Well, it's a business risk. My wife and I would not attend a movie at a theater with passive or active blocking technology. Not ever.
I won't risk an emergency with my children for the sake of, well, you.
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Re: no need to jam
911 can always be called in case of an emergency but naturally a babysitter will be distressed if she or he can't reach the parents and the parents would always expect a call in case of emergency.
Why not allow enough signal to get a ring in a theatre but not an actual ongoing conversation without leaving the auditorium or such? Is that possible?
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Re: no need to jam
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Re: no need to jam
Jamming is not the answer though, as it generally works by disabling all cell towers in the vicinity. This should definitely remain illegal. Passive jamming is what the theatres should be using. They can apply some of that way overpriced popcorn money they get to doing it right.
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Re: no need to jam
Cellphones are a problem but people use them in the theater because they are rude. this rudeness also allows them to chat and otherwise distract and annoy the other patrons.
Its a sign cultural decline. We're politically correct but uncivil.
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Where do I get some of that!!! I'd gladly pay a little extra for the silence. People really are too rude to care who they're interrupting. Every single time I've encountered people talking on their cellphones during a show, it was a teenager obviously on with a friend, not a heart surgeon (they DO have backup, you know!)
Every theater should have this!!!
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Re: no need to jam
I think the only answer is what the movie theater owner said. Enforce consideration. Any violation gets you kicked out of the movie.
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Movie goers
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Re: Movie goers
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...right
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I agree with it
scuz me I got to answer my cell
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Re: I agree with it
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Faraday Cage?
Is that sort of interference illegal? It's purely passive.
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No Subject Given
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Don't allow Signal Jamming, Signal Blocking is alr
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Theatres' Jamming Cell Phones
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If the Theaters are so Interested in the customers
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No Subject Given
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Ridiculous!
Movie tickets for 2 - $20
Popcorn and Drink for 2 - Another $20
Having your cellphone blocked as your mother tries to call you from the scene of an accident while dieing.... priceless.
First of all, technology exists to allow phone makers a second option, vibrate-only zones. This has already been tested for places such as restaraunts and theaters. So, a complete blackout is obsurd. Easier yet, just tell people to use vibrate-only, and to exit the theater area to talk... or be kicked out.
Second, if a close family member of mine was in an accident, I'd like to at least feel my phone vibrate with a text message telling me they are in the hospital. You can bet people start getting pretty damn upset if they started losing emergency calls.
And, god forbid on-call doctors, emt's, firemen, or police go to watch a movie (or eat at restaraunts that will undoubtedly follow suit if this goes through)!
Label this story as Yet-Another-Reason-to-Stay-Home-And-Watch-DVDs. Thanks, but no thanks, the **AA's have enough control over our lives. I'm someone who uses their cellphone once/twice daily, and is mostly for emergency purposes and web-surfing while I stand outside in the snow having a smoke. They can come get my cell phone from my cold dead hands!
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Get one of these!!
http://www.globalgadgetuk.com/Personal.htm
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No Subject Given
Thats like saying we should ban cars cause hey, "what did we do before cars? we survived, we dont need em"
Times have changed, cell phones or some type of communication device is here to stay. Granted, the babysitter should call 911 first, if i was a parent, I would want to know that my child is in the hospital.
Forget the babysitter, how about your own mother? She has a heart attack and is in critical condition in the hospital and she isnt going to make it thru the night. Someone is trying to call you to let you know so that you can be with your mother in her last hours, but they cant get thru to you because of the blocking. Is it really worth it? Is having a ring-free movie experience worth the risk of not being able to tell your mom goodbye and that you love her? I dont think so.
Simple solution like one of the movie managers here already implements is one strike and your out. If your cell phone makes an audible ring during the movie, you will be asked to leave, simple as that. Would that really be that hard to implement? And guess what, it costs the theatre ZERO dollars to implement this.
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Usher
I say bring back the theatre usher. They can act as the "uber peer", and provide the needed social conscience that has as of lately vanished.
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What exactally is blocked by the jammer?
Secondly, if we are going to block cell phones in theatres, why not also install jammers in cars. Safety is a lot more important than customer satisfaction; I would rather prevent people from talking on their cell phones while driving than sit in a theatre without rings. At least in the theatre I know some soccer mom isn't going to kill me with her minivan!
Finally, if someone is in an emergency, I hope they don’t waste time calling parents, or whoever is in the theatre as that is useless. Call the Paramedics or whoever.
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Fuck Cell Phones!
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WELL...
Eithier way I support it.
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v
FYI, when I have to have my phone on, I #1, put it on vibrate. #2 if I have to take the call, I get up and walk out of the theatre.
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blocking signals
Theater owners are opening yourselves up for lawsuits and if that doesn't work, people will take matters into their own hands. I for one will do more than just talk about freedom... I will fight for it like my forefathers.
Leqave signal blocking to the places it needs to be, where top secret information has to be guarded. I feel sorry for any of you owners the first time a federal agent has to make a call concerning national security and can't get through. I really do
Now don't get me wrong. i am a very polite person. I can get very very rude when i see my rights being violated because you know what..... the courts and people in this country are to pussy-whipped to stand up for freedom any more.
I would never use a cell phone in a situation like a theather unless it was an emergency. However I had damn well better be able to do so if necessary or some one will pay and pay a lot for that prevention.
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Re: blocking signals
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Another voice in support of jamming
Everyone has a choice as to whether they want to enter or not - if you miss "an emergency call" because you were asked to turn off your cellphone, that is your problem; you could just as easily have not patronized an establishment that asks you to turn it off.
As far as it being too late to argue that we used to live without cellphones, but now they are a necessity, I say "poo". If you live paralyzed in fear twenty-four hours a day that you might miss an emergency call, don't go out. When people have emergencies they are supposed to contact the authorities, not your cellphone. And, if you are purposely going to a place when you will not be reachable by cellphone, you have to leave instructions for someone else to deal with the emergency who will be available.
In the meantime, those of us who have been suffering from rude noisy people will finally have places to go where silence is enforced; that is our right, and our choice, as well.
Yehuda
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Cell Phone Blocking
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Can't believe you guys
Let's just weigh in the worst thast can happen in both cases:
- if someone rude is present in the theater he might talk and annoy you
versus
- if the phone is jammed you'll be unable to take emergency/urgent call or make one.
True that cellphones didn't change the world overnight when they were invented, but now that we DO have them, the other people rely on this communication.
If you need to take an urgent message but you're in a phone-jammed cinema hall, how would you explain this to your kids/parents/friends? "Sorry been at the movies, not a care in the world except keeping quiet during the movie".
It's embarassing.
Plus DVD rent/purchase has always been a lot better experience to me. Obsession with "bigger is better" just doesn't hold ground anymore.
Technically you stay closer to your TV/projector and the room is smaller for the speaker system you have, so you should be getting same if not better experience out of your modest home cinema setup.
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No Subject Given
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No Subject Given
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Middle Ground
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Cell phone jamming at movie theaters
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out of their bounds?
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A bigger problem
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No Subject Given
Theater operators, it is your right to remove rude, talkative jackasses from your theater... How about you all make it a rule that people that make excessive noise in theaters be removed without hesitation? I bet a rent-a-cop would be cheaper than jamming technology or a faraday cage.
Besides, if you start to jam the signal(s), you're bound to get escalation. You get a jammer, jerks get a stronger signal, then you get a stronger jammer, then I switch to microwave transmission...
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This is the cause of a lot of irritating public behavior such as the people who get on it while driving and can't seem to go the posted speed,thus making you late for work.Also the rude loud cell phone talker who breaks your eardrums while screaming into their phone wherever they are.Popel use cell phones in front of others mostly to get attention because it is a status symbol,not because the user is a rich, powerful business person that must be in touch with their empire at all times.Most cell phone conversations are BS,not business,and certainly not necessary.
As far as theatres go I applaud the technology and I think that if you cannot go 2-3 hours without your cell phone to connect you to anyone and everyone,then you need to stay home and be a shut-in with your phone.
If being connected means so much,then don't leave your kid's side,ever.Don't go anywhere if your noisy kids are not welcome.Stay home instead of annoying everyone else with your damned cellphone and rude, noisy kids.If your kids are rude noisy apes,chances are you are too, and you need to stay out of public areas too.Rent DVDs and give the rest of us (the majority that get annoyed with you and your entorage)some peace and quiet.
People go to the movies to relax and escape.Get a clue,rude asses! Don't bring along your ill-behaved pets,ignorant kids and noisy cellphones to public areas.Stay home for the good of mankind!
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cell phone
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Too Funny!
I don't think Techdirt had the Identicons back in 2005, but looking back now you can see that 90% of these comments are from the same IP address.
This person's head must be more crowded than Sybil's with all those different personas and conversations in there.
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