Cell phones in jails & prisons
... a bit of a problem ...
Various approaches have been tried to deal with this, and it looks to me like there are a couple that would actually work. One of which might be a bit cumbersome ... shield the whole place. Wrap the whole place in copper screen (and ground it well). Naahhh. Let's blow that one off. It might be appropriate for a small cafe where you don't want people to sit and blab on their phones. Then the "no cell phones" would be a statement of fact rather than a request or demand.
The other thing would be having a cell site right there, so (by the nature of the cell phone system) any and all phones would be working off that site. Of course that would entail a multitude of equipment, although if the desire is to have no cellphones work at all, that would simplify matters a bit — all phones would connect to a site with no connectivity at all except to the front office. Then if any legitimate calls need to be made, they can be patched through manually to a landline.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Thirty-twelve, good buddy
(ten-four, ten-four, ten-four)
As so often happens the solution to a problem later becomes a problem itself. Witness then the utter chaos in the world of "ten codes". It would not be so if there were a single standard for what they mean. But there isn't, and "10-55" where I live means ambulance (though formally it's supposed to mean "send an ambulance"). Some places it means drunk driver. Some places it means officer down. Put people from all these places together on an incident and you got trouble. Which is why in the Incident Command System, which has lately become a part of a larger National Incident Management System, use of ten codes is strictly forbidden.
Then there's the awful slangy usage. One thing that is pretty well standard is "10-4", and it means "understood". But I hear things like "Is everything 10-4?" and the response "10-4." And the other day "the driver is 10-4" (meaning sober). None of these things mean "understood".
In the thus-far abortive effort to wean law enforcement off ten codes, in the interest of interoperability, pretty much all efforts have come to naught. So here's an idea ... but first a word from our sponsor.
"Hello."
OK, here's the idea. You can't just suddenly give everybody a brain transplant and have them speaking plain English. Start somewhere. I suggest the code with the absolute worst usage, the slangy 10-4. Give them a list of standard phrases, including "affirmative" and "understood", to use instead. Get them used to it that way. And assess a penalty of a quarter or a dollar every time they say "10-4". The money can go into a fund for steaks at the Christmas party.
Of course you'd want to provide the full list of what to say for all circumstances, and hopefully the program would actually go somewhere.
(ten-four, ten-four, ten-four)
As so often happens the solution to a problem later becomes a problem itself. Witness then the utter chaos in the world of "ten codes". It would not be so if there were a single standard for what they mean. But there isn't, and "10-55" where I live means ambulance (though formally it's supposed to mean "send an ambulance"). Some places it means drunk driver. Some places it means officer down. Put people from all these places together on an incident and you got trouble. Which is why in the Incident Command System, which has lately become a part of a larger National Incident Management System, use of ten codes is strictly forbidden.
Then there's the awful slangy usage. One thing that is pretty well standard is "10-4", and it means "understood". But I hear things like "Is everything 10-4?" and the response "10-4." And the other day "the driver is 10-4" (meaning sober). None of these things mean "understood".
In the thus-far abortive effort to wean law enforcement off ten codes, in the interest of interoperability, pretty much all efforts have come to naught. So here's an idea ... but first a word from our sponsor.
"Hello."
OK, here's the idea. You can't just suddenly give everybody a brain transplant and have them speaking plain English. Start somewhere. I suggest the code with the absolute worst usage, the slangy 10-4. Give them a list of standard phrases, including "affirmative" and "understood", to use instead. Get them used to it that way. And assess a penalty of a quarter or a dollar every time they say "10-4". The money can go into a fund for steaks at the Christmas party.
Of course you'd want to provide the full list of what to say for all circumstances, and hopefully the program would actually go somewhere.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Blackberry Jam
Stockholders 1, Customers 0
Corporations don't have principles, as it again is shown. Privacy is a cornerstone of the global village, and various governments don't like it — well, of course. RIM has it seems yielded to the demands of at least one government to process messages in such a way as to make them "tappable". Oh well ... when I was a spook one of the things they taught me immediately is that all phones are tapped.
"We have met the enemy and he is us" — Walt Kelly
The internet, as a consequence of its design, regards censorship as damage to the net, and routes around it. And while I've been thinking about getting a smartphone, I'm not going to buy a Blackberry.
Stockholders 1, Customers 0
Corporations don't have principles, as it again is shown. Privacy is a cornerstone of the global village, and various governments don't like it — well, of course. RIM has it seems yielded to the demands of at least one government to process messages in such a way as to make them "tappable". Oh well ... when I was a spook one of the things they taught me immediately is that all phones are tapped.
"We have met the enemy and he is us" — Walt Kelly
The internet, as a consequence of its design, regards censorship as damage to the net, and routes around it. And while I've been thinking about getting a smartphone, I'm not going to buy a Blackberry.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Sonora part II
After Banamichi
Somewhere along the way we passed a mining town called Arizpe; the highway totally bypassed it. We were on the way to the hot spring by Aconchi, and fortunately we did not get there by way of the town. A few miles before the town I spied a little green "agua caliente" sign, about the size of a street sign, pointing the way; the road went into a village called San Felipe de Jesus. The whole route was dry; another Anglo arrived there by way of the town and said he had to ford streams four times (in his VW bus). It's a Sonora state park with very reasonable camping rates. We stayed several days, most of it weekdays, and the place was nearly deserted until Saturday, when lots and lots of families arrived.
The main focus of activity on the weekend was the swimming pool; there were campsites upstream and we had one of those, a nice quiet place. At one point on Saturday several teenagers strolled by on their way up to a good old fashioned swimming hole farther upstream, with at least one guitar, and paused by our camp to serenade us — just because they felt like it. Later we sauntered up to the swimming hole ourselves, and found it looking just like a swimming hole ought to.
At some point we met a middle-aged lady who had brought her mother to the springs; they had short-term rented a house in San Felipe de Jesus. After we pulled up and left the park we dropped in to visit them. We talked about how taken we were with Banamichi. The lady was a teacher, and she checked the place out and then went and got a job there. This we learned by way of her daughter who had email. Being indirect, we didn't stay in touch long term.
Eventually we rolled out and went to Aconchi and Baviacora and in one of them bought a big bag of peanuts from the local "Peanut King".
The remaining memories of this trip I have just realized belong to a different trip so I'll stop now.
After Banamichi
Somewhere along the way we passed a mining town called Arizpe; the highway totally bypassed it. We were on the way to the hot spring by Aconchi, and fortunately we did not get there by way of the town. A few miles before the town I spied a little green "agua caliente" sign, about the size of a street sign, pointing the way; the road went into a village called San Felipe de Jesus. The whole route was dry; another Anglo arrived there by way of the town and said he had to ford streams four times (in his VW bus). It's a Sonora state park with very reasonable camping rates. We stayed several days, most of it weekdays, and the place was nearly deserted until Saturday, when lots and lots of families arrived.
The main focus of activity on the weekend was the swimming pool; there were campsites upstream and we had one of those, a nice quiet place. At one point on Saturday several teenagers strolled by on their way up to a good old fashioned swimming hole farther upstream, with at least one guitar, and paused by our camp to serenade us — just because they felt like it. Later we sauntered up to the swimming hole ourselves, and found it looking just like a swimming hole ought to.
At some point we met a middle-aged lady who had brought her mother to the springs; they had short-term rented a house in San Felipe de Jesus. After we pulled up and left the park we dropped in to visit them. We talked about how taken we were with Banamichi. The lady was a teacher, and she checked the place out and then went and got a job there. This we learned by way of her daughter who had email. Being indirect, we didn't stay in touch long term.
Eventually we rolled out and went to Aconchi and Baviacora and in one of them bought a big bag of peanuts from the local "Peanut King".
The remaining memories of this trip I have just realized belong to a different trip so I'll stop now.
BlackBerry Taboo
If RIM has both smarts and guts they will just say NO.
To do otherwise would be to betray their customers.
Copied from the DHS Daily
August 4, Reuters – (International) Saudi and RIM in last-ditch talks. The makers of the BlackBerry smartphone held last-ditch talks with Saudi Arabia August 4 to avert a threatened cut-off of a key service, while India took a tough line with the Canadian company. Research In Motion (RIM) is facing mounting demands from governments around the world for access to its vaunted encryption system on national security grounds. The spat, which has highlighted the access some states seem to have in comparison to others, threatens to cut off some 2 million BlackBerry users in the Gulf and India. Security officials in India, a giant growth market for mobile communications, warned the service would be halted if the company failed to meet its concerns, a newspaper reported. “We are very clear that any BlackBerry service that cannot be fully intercepted by our agencies must be discontinued,” The Economic Times quoted an unnamed security official as saying. “Offering access to data is part of the telecom licensing guidelines and has to be adhered to.” An Indian government source told Reuters that RIM had proposed to share some details of its BlackBerry services, but security agencies were demanding full access to a messaging service it fears could be misused by militants. RIM has said BlackBerry security is based on a system where customers create their own key and the company neither has a master key nor any “back door” to enable RIM or any third party to gain access to crucial corporate data. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67151F20100804
If RIM has both smarts and guts they will just say NO.
To do otherwise would be to betray their customers.
Copied from the DHS Daily
August 4, Reuters – (International) Saudi and RIM in last-ditch talks. The makers of the BlackBerry smartphone held last-ditch talks with Saudi Arabia August 4 to avert a threatened cut-off of a key service, while India took a tough line with the Canadian company. Research In Motion (RIM) is facing mounting demands from governments around the world for access to its vaunted encryption system on national security grounds. The spat, which has highlighted the access some states seem to have in comparison to others, threatens to cut off some 2 million BlackBerry users in the Gulf and India. Security officials in India, a giant growth market for mobile communications, warned the service would be halted if the company failed to meet its concerns, a newspaper reported. “We are very clear that any BlackBerry service that cannot be fully intercepted by our agencies must be discontinued,” The Economic Times quoted an unnamed security official as saying. “Offering access to data is part of the telecom licensing guidelines and has to be adhered to.” An Indian government source told Reuters that RIM had proposed to share some details of its BlackBerry services, but security agencies were demanding full access to a messaging service it fears could be misused by militants. RIM has said BlackBerry security is based on a system where customers create their own key and the company neither has a master key nor any “back door” to enable RIM or any third party to gain access to crucial corporate data. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67151F20100804
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