COLUMNISTS In the arsenal of guerrillas and insurgents, the modest mobile phone plays as important a role as the AK-47 or plastic explosives. It makes a handy detonator. In Iraq, 43 per cent of the 4,236 coalition deaths to date have been caused by so-called “improvised explosive devices”, set off by mobile ringers or similar devices found in garage openers and toys. In Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza, mobile phones have made possible a great leap in reconnaissance. Using – and disrupting – private signals is a big part of what Pentagon strategists call the Revolution in Military Affairs. And it is, from Madrid to Bombay, a big part of terrorism.
It ought to be obvious why, during the parade that followed Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration last month, US authorities used various technologies to disrupt mobile phone communications along the route. But it is not so obvious, apparently. Local police continue to complain that they are denied the right to use such technologies. Except at the highest rank of national security agencies, mobile phone jamming by law enforcement bodies faces hurdles. In the US, at least, these hurdles are a matter of constitutional superstition, a confusion between the rights of citizens and the convenience of consumers.
