“BART officials are showing themselves to be of a mind with the former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak.”-Electronic Frontier Foundation

August 11, the city of San Fransisco, California, shut off cell phone service to prevent people from protesting a police crime.

Residents had planned to protest the killing of a man by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police.  The man was shot back in July.  Police claim he was attacking them with a knife.  It’s not the first time BART police have shot and killed someone in a questionable incident.

BART officials admitted, on their web site, they shut off several cell towers, to prevent demonstrators from using their cell phones to launch another protest.  On July 11, people disrupted transit service by protesting the killing of the homeless man.

“Shutting down access to mobile phones is the wrong response to political protests.”-Rebecca Farmer, ACLU

BART police say they’re within the law by cutting off cell phone service, however FCC (Federal Communication Commission) regulations say cell customers must be notified “in writing” when their cell service is about to be cut off “for any reason”.

If you’ve lost cell phone service without being notified visit www.fcc.gov/complaints or call 1-888-CALL-FCC.