If officials can use GPS jammers to stop unanswered calls inside the prison walls, as Ozmint hopes to do in South Carolina, despite giving him this power, it may be challenged. FCC spokesperson Robert Kenny said: “We have no right to grant it when we think it is worthwhile or justified.” “Congress may take some measures.” Ozmint has invited federal officials and representatives of state assemblies. Coming to Lieber Correctional Facility in South Carolina in a few months, GPS Jammers equipment manufacturer CellAntenna Corp. will demonstrate the technology here. This device can prevent the signal from the signal tower from reaching the phone and effectively block all calls. The jammer will not block calls from satellite phones, but smuggling them into prison will double the cost and trouble. It is not clear how much it will cost to equip a South Carolina prison with a GPS jammer, although officials say they will first concentrate on installing the technology in prisons with maximum security. Critics say that it is impossible to confine the interference technology to one or two buildings, and that the use of the technology may affect nearby people using telephones.
According to estimates from the London School of Economics, the loss of satellite navigation will cost the UK more than £5.1 billion (US$6.5 billion) in just five days. GPS system failure will also cost the U.S. economy US$1 billion (£760 million) a day, and if this is done during the farmer’s planting season (April and May), the loss will be as high as US$1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) per day. But GPS failures are surprisingly common-the military often locks them in certain areas when testing equipment or conducting military exercises. The US government also regularly conducts tests and exercises that cause interference to satellite signals, but certain technical problems have also caused global problems. Of course, there are other global navigation satellite systems-Russia’s Glonass, Europe’s Galileo and China’s Beidou all work on a similar basis to GPS. GPS jammers or deliberate interference will also increasingly cause signal interruptions from satellite positioning systems.