BART: Stay Out of Our Cell Phone Service!
On August 11, Bay Area Rapid Transit elected to shut down cell phone service at all downtown San Francisco BART stations in order to quell a rumored protest.
Free speech advocates such as the ACLU have called the shutdown "anti-democratic" and "a violation of the right to free expression and assembly." Additionally, the FCC has frequently published warnings in the past regarding the illegal nature of jamming cell phone services.
Most troubling, however, is the potential isolation from law enforcement that everyone taking BART that night experienced. As SF Gate points out, if the alleged protest had turned violent, there would have been no way for law-abiding passengers to call for help.
Demand that BART officials never again jam cell phone signals in this manner.
Your decision on Thursday night to jam the cell phone signals at downtown San Francisco BART stations was both oppressive and downright irresponsible.
As the ACLU of Northern California has said, shutting down the service was both anti-democratic and a violation of the right to free speech and assembly. However, it was also dangerous--if a violent protest had broken out, law-abiding citizens would have been unable to call for help.
[Your comments here]
I am writing to demand that you never again make the audacious decision to jam cell services on Bay Area Rapid Transit.
