AUSTIN (AP) -- Texas officials are accusing the Federal Communications Commission of "bureaucratic double-talk" after agency officials just "encouraged" a cell phone jamming test that was cancelled because federal officials wouldn't OK it.
Because of a federal law that makes jamming of radio signals illegal, Texas officials on Monday cancelled tomorrow's demonstration of an electronic device that would render a phone inside a prison useless.
The Austin American-Statesman reports FCC spokesman Robert Kenny surprised Texas officials yesterday with a statement proposing that Texas move ahead with the test law or not.
He was met with this response from Jerry Strickland, communications director for Attorney General Greg Abbott -- who said, quote "Only in Washington can a federal agency encourage conduct it previously said was unauthorized."
The test, which was recently successfully demonstrated in South Carolina, is in response to a deluge of illegal cell phones discovered in Texas prisons.
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
