cjcampbell writes:

One thing I find incredibly entertaining: after decades of scaring the
daylights out of passengers about 'dangerous' cell phones the airlines
are discovering that allowing passengers to use cell phones could be a
profit center. So the ban has been lifted in some countries, but the
passengers won't use the service because they are terrified of making
the airplane fall out of the sky.

I should think you'd have to hold the cellphone right in the cockpit
to make any difference at all to the avionics, and even then, I
wouldn't expect much of an effect. I can talk on a cell phone right
next to my computers (with the covers off), and they continue to run.

Cell phones are also prohibited by law in banks. You could be
imprisoned for six months for turning a cell phone on in a bank in the
Philippines. Apparently there is a concern that criminal gangs could
watch for large withdrawals of cash and then telephone confederates
outside the bank. Of course, the law does not prevent anyone from
simply stepping outside the bank to use his phone.

I guess calling the cops to report a robbery in progress is out of the
question, then.

I am surprised that there have not been more restrictions on cell
phones. They are the tool of choice for terrorists to detonate their
bombs by remote control (we just had a bunch of them in the Philippines
a week or two ago). Plus, many of them have small cameras that could be
used for surveillance and gathering intelligence. They are almost
untraceable; you can use one once and throw it away. Really, perhaps
Homeland Security needs to ban the cell phone nationwide. That ought to
protect us.

Cellphones are too widely used. The general public only accepts bans
on things that are not used by the majority of people. The real risk
(or lack thereof) is irrelevant.

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