Give peace (and quiet) a chance

Isn't it amazing there is no technological solution to the problem of rampart phone use, abuse and annoyances? The CNET article doesn't make it clear if its the noise problem or the ability for phones to be used easily for cheating. I think any owner of private space should have the right to enforce both silencing (force to vibrate alert) and disabling of phones entirely (to prevent cheating) by default unless the phone owner has requested and received permission to do otherwise (via a temporary pin code that would circumvent the mechanism for that phone number). This could easily be implemented and would facilitate emergency use by doctors etc. You could also have your phone automatically route calls to someone else while you're in that space so they could relay a message to you.

All it takes is a will for cellphone companies and governments to make this happen but at the moment they have almost no incentive - all phone calls generate revenue and hence are automatically deemed "good for the economy" (just like oil spills) with no consideration for their negative externalities.

We survived for the history of time minus a decade or so without ubiquitous phone coverage and it is ridiculous to charge that we simply cannot do without it now. Also I'm sure that if you added up the number of accidents CAUSED by cell phone usage it would more than outnumber those prevented by it. I would love to see someone do some research into that...