Skip to main content

S.F. BART snuffs cell phone service in anticipation of police protests

The San Francisco Bay Area’s mass transit system, known as BART, admitted to temporarily shutting down cell phone service in four of its San Francisco stations last night. The suppression of cell signals was apparently a response to the threat of a possible protest over a man shot by BART police last month.

“Organizers planning to disrupt BART service on August 11, 2011 stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART Police…BART temporarily interrupted service at select BART stations as one of many tactics to ensure the safety of everyone on the platform.” Officials for the transit system explained in a statement.

Recommended Videos

Cnet reports that the disruption was planned to protest the death of 45-year-old Charles Blair Hill, a homeless man who was shot by BART police on July 3 for throwing bottles and brandishing a four-inch knife. The protest against BART police failed to actualize itself last night.

AnonOpBART via anonymous
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Cell phone service was not suspended outside of the select BART stations. The cell jamming occurred between 4 p.m. And 7 p.m. PT at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell and Civic center stations according to BART’s deputy communication officer James Allison. The big carriers who provide service in the tube—Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile—were notified after service had been cut.

In their statement, BART officials address issues concerning freedom of speech and safety; however, the transit system is drawing criticism for what some consider a heavy handed tactic.

The Northern California ACLU said, “Shutting down access to mobile phones is the wrong response to political protests, whether it’s halfway around the world or right here in San Francisco. You have the right to speak out.”

Anonymous activists are calling for retaliation against the cell service snuffing with a flyer describing this event as muBARTek, referring to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak creating an internet blackout earlier this year to quell protests.

Jeff Hughes
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.
Get a first look at Google Messages’ new mentions function
The Google Messages app on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Google Messages should soon be getting a welcome upgrade: the ability to mention other users in group chats and ping them. Similar to the @mention format popularized by Twitter and now found in other messaging programs like WhatsApp or Telegram, the feature is a quick and easy way to draw the attention of a particular person in what could be a busy group chat.

A first look at this new mention feature has been shared by Android Authority, which dug through the latest beta version of Google Messages, v20250511, to enable mentions and test out the new function. It works much as it does in other messaging programs -- you enter a "@" symbol followed by the name of the person you want to mention, and an autocomplete will show you options of members in a current group chat to make typing easier and faster.

Read more
Nothing and Kef are making premium audio products together
A promotional image for the Nothing and Kef partnership.

Technology brand Nothing has announced a partnership with audio experts Kef, and said it’s already hard at work on co-developed products together. Nothing is best known for its smartphones these days, but its first ever product was the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds, and it has continued  to build and diversify the line ever since. 

Nothing Ear 2

Read more
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Five months after Samsung introduced its flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra, it has unveiled the Galaxy S25 Edge. The company's thinnest phone to date, the S25 Edge, is very similar to the S25 Ultra — yet also significantly different in some crucial ways. Let's take a look.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: specs

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge 
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Read more