
Call to ban sale of mini mobile phones - ogdoad
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42383351
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jdoliner
It's kind of funny to ban an item that's already being smuggled in through a
ban. Seems like it might just add another layer to the smuggling scheme. We'll
eventually get to a point where the phone travels from assembly line to prison
cell entirely within people's butts.

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excalibur
Anuception.

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SN76477
Why not just let prisoners have free access to the phone? This has never made
sense to me.

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albertgoeswoof
It’s to stop them from being able to continue to commit crimes from the
inside.

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cabaalis
Except that they can't without using proxies on the outside. Instead, we
decide that they no longer have a right to communicate or express themselves
to anyone outside the prison.

It seems like a more effective and humane method is to allow them free
telephone usage, with the complete disclosure and knowledge that their
conversations are being listened to/recorded. If crimes being driven by their
command are executed on the outside, it can be found out how they communicated
that command, and the people responsible for committing that outside crime
also punished.

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jopsen
Exactly how many prisoners have a criminal empire to run from prison.

Most of them have nothing. And communication would be of no concern, or am I
missing something.

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AstralStorm
The problem is how to determine that someone is a "low risk" mule for coded
communication. (For favours inside prison or later outside.) So the solution
is a wide ban indeed.

Like with many such "solutions" its efficacy is not evaluated.

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wolfgke
Wouldn't it be a much better idea to build prisons at places that simply have
no cell coverage? (if necessary make it a law for such a region - this would
also make such regions good places for electrosensitive people to settle).

Considering that it is very problematic to use jammers and hardly possible to
ban sales, too (if it becomes impossible to sell them directly, people will
start to sell them from Shenzhen, which does not change the problem), this is
probably the best option.

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ams6110
Prisons need employees. The employees are going to want cell coverage between
work and home.

How about just banning prison visits. That would solve a lot of other
contraband problems too.

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perfmode
Contraband often comes in through employees.

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DoreenMichele
Well, the solution is clear: We ban employees.

/s

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user5994461
Looks like a future project for HN disruption. Automating the prisons.

~~~
Fej
An automated panopticon.

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dpwm
The article seems like it's sensationalising a little bit and I can't quite
work out the purpose.

> "Beat the BOSS" phones can be bought for £25, but are reportedly changing
> hands for up to £500 inside jails.

This is ostensibly an article about phones being on sale on online
marketplaces and being advertised explicitly for smuggling.

So, let's search Amazon UK: "beat the BOSS phone", there's one phone that
looks like it's small. Granted, it does say that it's 99.9% plastic. Nowhere
in the description is it marketed as being to beat the body scanner. BOSS
isn't mentioned.

The second result is a Nokia 105, which I'm fairly sure is not what the
article is talking about. Ebay's not-yet-taken-down listings are a little more
explicit with one of the two listings referring to a "cell" and "Boss."
Arguably, "Boss" could refer to, say, the boss at work. Maybe choosing that as
an acronym for the scanners wasn't such a great idea after all.

Questions a journalist might have been expected to have found answers for:

A minister has claimed this, so is it plausible? Could there be another
agenda? Is it a distraction?

The claimed battery life is 5 days. How are these being charged?

Is there a legitimate use for such a small phone?

Will extending a ban to outside likely be effective given that, say, drugs are
also banned outside prison? The article does not mention drugs other than as
contraband.

Why are they £500 if these things are routinely changing hands and can be
obtained for so little and are so easy to smuggle?

Who do the inmates pay the £500 to? How?

How are they smuggled? Visitors seems unlikely, because the risk of getting
caught is high.

Why is there no analysis of the widespread claims spanning decades that prison
guards have been involved in many smuggling operations?

The media has been running stories for months about drones (i.e. quadcopters)
being used to smuggle stuff into prisons. Why is there no mention of drones or
any synonyms in this article?

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userbinator
Don't these also have a legit use for people like journalists, who may also
require a covert means of communication?

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AboutTheWhisles
Or maybe just people who want a tiny phone, like kids or women with a small
purse.

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jasonkostempski
Don't forget fashion models.

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yeahsure
Or ants.

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jacknews
Seems a little ridiculous to me, just install IMSI catchers in the prison, and
you can monitor and/or block calls from any phone whatever the size or
composition.

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albertgoeswoof
Couldn’t you use a gsm jammer inside the prison instead?

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jopsen
Lead paint? :)

\- Just kidding...

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iAMAGuest
Faraday prison cells.

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leetcrew
or just a faraday cage.

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upofadown
In my part of the world they are talking about shutting down the 2G network in
the next few years. Since these small phones run on that network the UK
authorities might want to check to see if the problem is going to go away on
its own.

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boobsbr
Why not make Faraday cages in prisons, or use cell phone blockers?

