[Cryptography] jammers, nor not

[Henry Baker]

At 04:52 PM 2/27/2017, John Denker wrote:
>On 02/27/2017 02:14 PM, Henry Baker wrote:
>> jamming devices will become *essential*.
>
>Just in case it wasn't obvious, jammers are illegal in the US.
>
>IANAL, but the last time I checked, there was an exception for military and Federal law enforcement, but not state or local.
>
>Don't bother asking for an exemption; there is not even a process for granting one, no matter how noble your purpose may be.
>
>a) I reckon you can use a scanner so you can detect and confiscate any transmitters if/when they are brought in.
>
>b) I reckon you are allowed to turn your home or office into a Faraday cage.
>
>c) OTOH there is zero tolerance for active jammers.
>
>See e.g. https://www.fcc.gov/general/jamming-cell-phones-and-gps-equipment-against-law and references therein.

I'm not a lawyer, but I understand that there are always implicit exceptions to every law -- e.g., to save a life (perhaps your own), etc.  Remember, the prosecution still has to convince a judge and a jury, so if the situation is egregious enough, a jury may well nullify.

I'm expecting consumer drones to test jury nullification very soon.  I suspect that if someone takes a shotgun to their neighbor's peeping drone, most juries will stand up and applaud, so long as the buckshot doesn't land in their yard.  I notice that DA's are currently a little shy about prosecuting some drone cases, because they don't want any of these laws ignored by juries or overturned by judges.