BART policy to get combed over by the FCC

After San Francisco's Bay Area Rail Transit (BART) system shut down cellphone access during Anonymous protests, many believed it did so illegally. The FCC has now revealed (PDF) it will delve deeper into these actions and BART's Cell Service Interruption Policy (PDF). The government agency will need to check if these now policies violate the First Amendment, the Communications Act, First Amendment and other laws.

The policy's wording does promise that future interruptions will only happen in the "most extraordinary circumstances that threaten the safety of District passengers." This includes evidence of imminent unlawful activity such as destruction of District property or the substantial disruption of transit services. The interruption also needs to be deemed to reduce such unlawful activity, and needs to be time- and space-constrained to target the unlawful activity. Finally, the public safety benefits need to outweigh the public safety risks related to the interruption.

The FCC will allow public input to guide it on these issues. This should help the process, as BART Board President Bob Franklin wishes the product to become a template for other public agencies to follow in the future when faced with similar problems. [via Ars Technica]

By Electronista Staff