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Debate Rages Over Public Cell Phone Use

Posted on: Friday, 18 April 2008, 09:45 CDT

Following the new “zen zones” established by France that prohibit cell phone use on its national railway, Austria’s second-largest city of Graz has mandated its public transit commuters to keep their cell phones set to silent mode.

The crackdown has set off a contentious debate between free speech advocates and those who say they've had enough of being forced to listen to annoying cell phone chatter and irritating ring tones.

"I know I insulted the cell phone goddess a little," Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl said.  

"But people need to know they don't have the right to be on the telephone permanently and constantly," he told Austrian television. "It's just not healthy to never be able to get any peace and quiet."

The city’s new mandate represents a growing backlash against the widespread proliferation of cell phones throughout the world.  In many countries, cell phones and other mobile communications devices outnumber people 2-to-1.

In the U.S., Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR, filed pre-emptive legislation this week to prevent Americans from using cell phones on the nation’s airliners.  He introduced the bill after the European Union discontinued its long held ban on the devices and Air France-KLM launched a trial of on-board mobile phone service .

Experts in aviation have said the risk of mobile phones interfering with the plane’s navigational equipment will be minimized because new systems will use onboard base stations that link to satellites, instead of connecting the in-flight phones directly to the ground networks.

In New Jersey, police began issuing $100 fines last month to drivers who send text messages or talk on mobile phone handsets while behind the wheel.  Other states may soon be joining New Jersey, with 21 state legislatures considering similar bans.

In France, SNCF rail company created “zen zones” in select compartments of its intercity bullet trains. Passengers in such areas are asked to turn off their cell phones in order to create a more relaxing travel environment.

Finland, Denmark and Germany also allocate similar compartments on trains.

But silencing die hard cell phones users is proving difficult in some cases.
 
Sweden's Stockholm Transport did away with its ‘cell phone free zones’ last May on subways, buses and commuter trains, only 10 months after launching the program.

"It relied on people showing respect, but it didn't really work," company spokesman Bjorn Holmberg said.

“Too many passengers wanted to use their commute to catch up on work calls, and some just felt safer with cell phones in hand.”

Officials in Graz acknowledge the ban is only voluntary, and said police will not be inspecting passengers or issuing tickets. Bus and streetcar commuters are still permitted to send text messages and use wireless Internet connections with their laptop computers.

Polls have shown that two-thirds of Austrians support the quiet, cell-phone free areas in public places. In the country’s third largest city of Linz, officials are considering cell phone restrictions for those using public transit.  Some have even gone as far as urging that the ban include personal cell phone use at offices.

"I don't really understand what all the fuss is about," commuter Erich Matthes told the Associated Press.

"Who or what is so important that you can't stay off your cell phone for half an hour? Must one really be reachable everywhere at all times?"

But not everyone sees it that way. Josef Kalina, a senior official with Austria's Social Democratic Party, rejected the Graz ring tone ban, calling it "a completely anachronistic idea."

"You really have to wonder what the politicians will think of next," he told the Associated Press.

"How about a total ban on freedom of speech in the public transit system? Using the law to regulate communication between human beings should be rejected as absurd."

Nagl, the mayor of Graz, said he's glad to hear people debating the issue – as long as it is not on their cell phones.

Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports

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