FCC to Consider in-flight use of Cell Phones...
 

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Federal regulators are set to begin discussions later this month on allowing the use of cell phones on commercial airline flights.

The Federal Communications Commission said that at its Dec. 15 meeting it will discuss possible revisions to rules prohibiting cell phone use on commercial flights. That's the first step of the process needed to lift the ban.

More details, see: http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/09/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

None of the stories I've seen on this do a good job of emphasizing that point that this is but a first step towards the possibility of in-flight use - we're talking a matter of years, not tomorrow. There's a whole host of technical, political and procedural issues to get through first. (CNN is better than what was in the Wash Post this morning)

What prompted this was an announcement that the FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at the December open meeting next week. A NPRM isn't binding and is but the first step to develop a record on which to change or implement rules. The NPRM isn't even adopted or released at this point, so anything as to what will or can be done is speculation.

I hope they don't do it for just this reason (from the article):

But the idea of having cell phones allowed on flights worried some flyers, who said they dreaded being next to someone having a loud and prolonged conversation.

"Can you imagine being in the middle seat between two business people making phone calls for 3 hours?" said Les Glass in an e-mail to CNN/Money. "What are the airlines and the FCC thinking?" <end quote>

Times this by 20 or 30 people :eek: :rolleyes: