SF transit blocks cellphones to hinder protest

You fools, you became addicted to cell phones and Facebook and now they have turned on you! Can you imagine World War 2 nowadays? Hitler would know who to kill in the French Resistance by checking the Facebook page.

People act like they can't survive without a cell phone. Just 20 years ago no one had a cell phone. Our society has become far to technology dependent. If people think they can't make it wothout a cell phone what happens when you have no electricity or water?

Wish I had the power to shut off the phone of the loud mouth who sits next to me on the train on the way home.

I remember a prospective employee answering his cell phone during a job interview. He was actually shocked when I ended the interview because of it.

Huh. Wonder how people organized protests back in the 60s before cellphones.

The people that swerve all over the road because they're too busy paying attention to their cellphone conversation than the road, the people that talk loudly on their cellphones in a restaurant or theater, the people who stand in the middle of the aisle in a store, too occupied with their cellphone to realize that they're blocking the aisle for everyone else, etc., etc., etc., is why I can't develop any anger about this! I wish there were huge areas that blocked cellphones- all the time!

The whole point of this discussion is that the people who desire to protest don't want to do so peacefully. They want to riot, and rioting is against the law. If you feel that strongly about it, break the law and accept the consequences. In other words, grow some balls or shut up.

Does the right to express your opinion trump my right to move freely? When does common sense come in to consideration that the demonstration actually takes freedom away from many others trying to use the service of BART? If you want to demonstrate then demonstrate, but do it without hurting others...

The guy came at them with a knife. Explain again what the BART police did wrong???

Real story. I saw just last night in Manhattan, a group of kids sitting in a diner in the village, I couldn't help but note how quiet they were. All sitting together in a group blipping away at cellphones. One laughs out loud and says to one of the others, you are so full of it...and looks at his screen again, then looks back to the other teen who said..."I'm dead serious". To my horror, I realized these kids were talking to each other...by text message!

A doomed generation for sure.

Guess the 'sword' of technology is two sided.

Imagine that, black guy gets shot...black people riot!? OJ was innocent too! Gang mentality. If the alleged victim had been a white male, no one in the area would have given a #$%$

Having liberties taken away is a huge problem. However, in this case, how is "cell phone" use a liberty? It's a luxury we take for granted. Also, the people who wanted to demonstrate would have disrupted the lives of innocent bystanders. Based on their reasoning for the demonstration, we can only imagine the unsavory people supporting a low life being shot after going after the police with a knife. Apparently, the lives of police officers mean nothing to these people.

MR Peck; I totally agree. Want to protest? Don't disrupt those that don't.

We were a better country before cell phones .

If I have to choose between London riots and shutting down a few cell towers--I choose cell towers

flash mobs can be a problem

Perhaps, if you consider all of the places where you are not allowed to use cell phones, you will get a glimmer. Most airplanes, most hospitals, many classrooms....all of these forbid the use of cell phones without violating first amendment rights. FACT

These are the very same people that call for gun control, gun registration, and the elimination of the God given right to keep and bear arms. Now that the government is attacking our rights to peacefully assemble or freedom of speech these very same people seem surprised. They don't seem to understand that the first step in any tyranny is disarming the people. After that the tyrant can do whatever it chooses. They can do anything...

The people in Egypt were protesting for the right to get a murderer out of office. This flash mob in California was planning to protest for a murderer or, more specifically, for the right to commit attempted murder without getting shot in self-defense. Only the looney toons of the press could consider these two situations in any way comparable.