A terrorist needs only about $50 to buy a GPS jammer, an electronic device small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, that can possibly fetch down an airplane.
According to the report, in spite of life form unlawful and potentially unsafe, GPS jammers are cheap and willingly available online. With car thieves in the UK using GPS jammers to help their escapes, authorities say it’s only a stuff of time until criminals — and, ominously, terrorists — in the US catch on.
A typical GPS Jammer
Jammers broadcast a low-power signal that creates sign noise and fools a GPS receiver into thinking the satellites are not available.
They can be used to puzzle police and avoid toll charges, and some use them to nettle unsuspecting iPhone users. But the real threat is the unknown.
Immoral could use them to conceal their location from law enforcement — and some experts fear terrorists could use jammers to disturb GPS response on an airplane or in military operations.
The devices pretence serious societal risks, and they are unquestionably illegal to buy and use in the US. The gadgets can be easily bought online, and their proponents want them to stay that way.
