An Auckland, New Zealand church has been fined $1,250 after it used a cell phone jammer to prevent phone calls from interrupting services.
In August of this year, the country’s Economic Development Ministry banned the sale and manufacturing of jamming devices, which BTW require a licence to be used.
Commenting on the fine issues, the ministry said that “while prayers and ceremonies may not have been disturbed by the ringing of mobile phones”, the wider community was potentially at risk as emergency calls were blocked as well.
The Corrections Department is the only organization licensed to use jamming devices in New Zealand. It has had them since 2007 to prevent the unauthorised use of cellphones in prisons…
[Via: stuff.co.nz, textually]