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Consumer group formulates cell phone in-flight policy |
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Legal & Regulatory America's Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has announced a
standardization project to facilitate the managed use of wireless devices
brought on board commercial aircraft and used by passengers during flight. "With the busy summer travel season underway and the increasing popularity of
wireless portable electronics with both business and leisure travelers, now is
an perfect time to reiterate the importance of creating a new industry standard
that will help manage the use of these devices on board commercial aircraft,"
said Douglas Johnson, senior director for technology policy at CEA. "Some
airlines are beginning to liberalize their policies regarding usage of wireless
devices, and CEA hopes to work with the airlines and other organizations as they
develop and implement these changes." A CEA working group, involving more than 35 representatives of wireless
device and component manufacturers, airlines, pilots, and flight attendants, is
developing an industry "recommended practice" that will provide a standard way
of showing that a wireless device's transmitter is disabled. The group aims to
complete and distribute the recommended practice by this autumn. "On many wireless consumer electronics products, there is no consistent way
to demonstrate that the device's transmitter is switched off," said Johnson.
"Ensuring that a device's wireless transmitter is disabled is important in
certain environments, such as aboard aircraft, but also in some hospital
locations." During certain phases of commercial flight, present regulations and airline
policy typically require all portable electronic devices to be turned off and
stowed. It is foreseeable that during certain times, some wireless technologies
might be permitted for use on board some commercial aircraft in the future.
However, other wireless technologies might not be. "Many wireless devices can operate without transmitting, such as the use of a
game player on a mobile phone, or the use of a personal organizer on a wireless
PDA," added Johnson. "In these and similar cases, we expect it will be useful
for airline passengers and others to know and be able to verify whether the
wireless part of their device is enabled or disabled." CEA's working group, which meets regularly, was formed in late 2003 to
address three issues related to the use of wireless devices. The first is to
develop a consistent and easily identifiable symbol, which indicates that a
wireless device's transmitter is disabled; the second is to make it easy to
disable and enable a device's wireless transmitter; and the third is to
encourage consistent terminology across the airline and technology industries
with regard to portable electronic devices
July 17 2004