Civilian Jams Distracted Drivers
May 01, 2014
A Florida man, passionate about highway safety took the law into his own hands. His vigilante tactics, while motivated by good intentions, overstepped his jurisdiction and he is now facing a hefty fine by the FCC. Jason R. Humphrey, 60, wanted to make his streets safer for drivers and civilians alike, armed with a high-powered jammer, Humphrey blocked reception and scrambled cell-phone towers along his daily commute.
For a two year period, MetroPCS noticed their towers were scrambled around certain times of the day along Interstate 4 near Seffner, Florida. The signal jammer cut off signals to nearby towers making texting while driving, phone calls and all functions requiring data transfer to not function properly.
Humphrey said his goal was to make his daily commute safer by stopping people from talking on their cell phones. While he was successful in accomplishing his goal, he was also blocking emergency calls from making it to their destination, putting people’s lives in danger.
The attack is called a denial-of-service attack and the jammer works by recreating the signal needed to connect cell phones with towers. This new signal successfully interrupts the original signal and therefore interrupts any cell phones within range. The police caught Humphrey by using a scanner on cars along the route. When the police approached Humphrey’s car, their scanners went dead.
The FCC is hitting Humphrey with the maximum fine of $48,000 dollars for his trouble.
