IP: Cell time for using cell phone

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

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>Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 06:52:55 -0400
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>From: ACS <custserv@4cellular.com>
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>>)
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>>Cell time for using cell phone
>>By Daniel Simpson, Reuters
>>July 21, 1999 11:28 AM PT
>>URL:
>><http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2298512,00.html?chkpt=hpqs014>
>>MANCHESTER, England -- A judge sentenced a British oil worker Wednesday to
>>an unprecedented one year's jail time for endangering an international
>>flight by refusing to switch off his mobile phone.
>>Neil Whitehouse, 28, was convicted of "recklessly and negligently
>>endangering" a British Airways <http://www.british-airways.com/> flight
>>carrying 91 passengers from Madrid to Manchester after he ignored repeated
>>requests from the crew to switch off his phone.
>>"You had no regard for the alarm that would be caused to passengers by your
>>stubborn and ignorant behavior," Judge Anthony Ensor told Whitehouse at
>>Manchester crown court.
>>Ensor said the case was the first time anyone had been prosecuted in Britain
>>for using a mobile phone aboard a plane and there was no precedent to guide
>>him on sentencing.
>>As serious as mid-flight violence
>>The sentence should serve as a warning that mobile phone use on planes,
>>which is illegal in Germany and the United States, would be treated as
>>seriously as violence on board aircraft, Ensor said.
>>Both British Airways and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which looks
>>after the interests of all UK carriers, welcomed the landmark ruling as a
>>step in the right direction.
>>"We welcome the fact that the court has recognized the seriousness of the
>>hazard from mobile phones," BA spokesman Jamie Bowden said.
>>Although Whitehouse made no airborne calls, aviation experts told a
>>three-day trial that radio waves from the phone could have sparked an
>>explosion or affected the Boeing 737's navigational systems as it flew at
>>31,000 feet.
>>"The scientific evidence showed that there was a real possibility of risk,"
>>Ensor said.
>>"You were sitting six meters (20 feet) away from 100 pieces of complex
>>electrical equipment," he told Whitehouse.
>>Whitehouse, who was sitting over the aircraft's wing fuel tanks, said he had
>>just been preparing a text message to send on his arrival in Manchester.
>>Despite warnings from the pilot and crew he kept his phone on.
>>Interference no big deal
>>His lawyer argued that any potential interference to the plane's systems
>>would have been only for a few seconds and could have been corrected.
>>Judge Ensor called for urgent new legislation specifically covering mobile
>>phone use on planes following CAA evidence given in the trial.
>>Detective Sergeant Rick Bates of Manchester Airport police agreed action was
>>necessary.
>>"The possible consequences in this case could have been far more serious
>>than from on-board violence. Luckily they weren't but that is no guarantee
>>for the future," he said.
>>
>>
>>Michael K. Jones
>>Sr. Product Manager, PGP/VPN/PKI
>>Network Associates, Inc.
>>mjones@nai.com
>>Direct: 408-346-3179
>>FAX:    408-346-3650
>>Pager:  888-916-8048
>>PGP Fingerprint: D4D0 E06D 7DF9 736F 49B3 0B63 C081 3AC0 4D6D 2E7E
>>
>>"Who's watching your network?"
>>http://www.nai.com/
>