BART's cellphone shutdown raises ire

SAN FRANCISCO -- A decision by San Francisco Bay Area transit officials to cut off cellphone service at some of its stations to thwart a planned protest drew an angry response Saturday from one transit board member. She said she was shocked that officials acted as "this type of censor."

Bay Area Rapid Transit officials have said they shut power Thursday evening to cellular towers for stations stretching from downtown to San Francisco's airport after learning protesters planned to use mobile devices to coordinate a second demonstration protest over a July 3 fatal shooting by BART police.

"I'm just shocked that they didn't think about the implications of this. We really don't have the right to be this type of censor," said Lynette Sweet, the BART board member. "In my opinion, we've let the actions of a few people affect everybody. And that's not fair."

BART Deputy Police Chief Benson Fairow on Friday told KTVU-TV that the agency decided to turn off underground cell service because of reports that a rowdy group that had protested in July had similar plans.

"It all boils down to the safety of the public," Fairow said. "It wasn't a decision made lightly. This wasn't about free speech. It was about safety."

To some, BART's tactic drew comparisons to Egyptian authorities' efforts to squelch protests by cutting Internet and cellphone services for days earlier this year.

"BART officials are showing themselves to be of a mind with the former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak," the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech, said on its website.

Michael Risher, the American Civil Liberty Union's Northern California staff attorney, wrote in a blog: "The government shouldn't be in the business of cutting off the free flow of information . . . whether it's halfway around the world or right here in San Francisco."

Yet others said while the phone shutdown was worth examining, it may not have impinged on First Amendment rights. Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center, a nonprofit educational organization, said freedom of expression can be limited in very narrow circumstances if there is an immediate threat to public safety.

BART officials were confident the cellphone disruptions were legal and issued a statement that instead said it's illegal to demonstrate on the platform or aboard the trains.

"We had a commute that was safe and without disruption," BART spokesman Jim Allison said Friday.