Mobile Phones Disabled When President Bush Visits Sydney
In an effort to prevent terrorism, parts of the mobile phone network will be disabled when President Bush visits Australia. I’ve written about this kind of thing before; it’s a perfect example of security theater: a countermeasure that works if you happen to guess the specific details of the plot correctly, and completely useless otherwise.
On the plus side, it’s only a small area that’s blocked:
It is expected mobile phone calls will drop out in an area the size of a football field as the helicopter passes overhead.
EDITED TO ADD (5/19): Slashdot thread.
EDITED TO ADD (5/20): The Register article.
antibozo • May 16, 2007 2:16 PM
“It is expected mobile phone calls will drop out in an area the size of a football field as the helicopter passes overhead.”
In that case, the loss of cell coverage would serve as a signal to potential terrorists that the targeted helicopter is passing overhead.
That doesn’t really sound like a good idea to me, but what do I know?