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posted by CoolHand on Thursday April 30 2015, @02:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the this-explains-why-we-never-have-bars dept.

The US government will be forced to explain why its cell network kill-switch plans should be kept secret today.

Under Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 303, the US government – in particular the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – is allowed to shutdown cellphone service anywhere in the country, and even across an entire city if it feels there is a crisis situation.

However, the actual content of the policy remains secret, raising fears that it is open to abuse. For example, it's not clear who is authorized to make such a decision nor under what circumstances.

There are also groups concerned that killing of cellphone service during an emergency could make things worse.

In a frequently quoted example, San Francisco's rail system BART flipped a cell network kill-switch in several subway stations in 2011 amid a protest over a BART cop who shot and killed a drunk homeless man ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/12/bart_polioce_cut_mobile_phone_service/ ). Charles Hill allegedly threw a knife at an officer before the police opened fire.

The fact that the network shutdown was ordered against a public demonstration raised immediate concerns over how the policy is written and implemented.

In February 2013, sparked by the BART event and a refusal by the DHS to release the policy under a Freedom of Information Act request, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sued the DHS ( https://regmedia.co.uk/2015/04/27/epic-case-dhs-phone-kill-switch.pdf ) [PDF] in order to get it to disclose the details.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by kadal on Friday May 01 2015, @02:06AM

    by kadal (4731) on Friday May 01 2015, @02:06AM (#177346)

    Which third world country are you talking about?

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