Phone Bomb Interceptor on the Line?
In Iraq, I had knowledgeable folks swear to me that cell phones had never been used to detonate bombs there. Those images we've all seen on CNN -- they're of long-range cordless telephone, not cells. The cell network just isn't reliable enough for a quality-conscious bomber, they say. Since I've been home, I've had other people swear the exact opposite to me.
Either way, New Scientist is right in saying that cells "provide a simple yet effective way for terrorists to remotely trigger a bomb." And that's why it'd be great news if an idea for "a portable device devised by US defence contractor Raytheon [to] quickly identify and disable such weapons" really works out. {Here's a link to the patent.)
The device includes a transmitter that mimics a cell phone base station and a metal horn to concentrate the signal from a 10 milliwatt power source in a single direction. Scanning... a concealed phone... with the tool... tricks it into thinking it is in range of a new network base station and blocks it from any genuine stations in the vicinity.
The suspect phone will also respond with a “handshake signal†containing its phone number, allowing a network operator to temporarily disconnect it from the real network, and preventing it from receiving a detonation call.
(Big ups: CC)
All socialist countries have no freedom? What kind of horseshit is that? Many European countries have socialist goverments and are as free as, if not more free than, the USA.
Posted by: BullshitDetector at April 12, 2006 1:19 PM