December 21, 2004
Vendors ring up cash baby-sitting cell phones
A cellphone ban at South Florida's federal courthouses has created a new market. Vendors are charging to hold them for people who need to get to court quickly, reports for the Miami Herald.
"If you are running late for federal court, it pays to know the hot dog guy.
For 10 bucks, he will guard your cellphone -- all but contraband inside the federal courthouses of South Florida.
Hot dog vendor Manuel Uribe, who sells on the southwest corner of First Avenue, stashes cellphones behind a bag of buns. Most customers pay a 10 spot.
Shah and Uribe are among a handful of entrepreneurs who traffic in the cell-watch-trade. The need arose in fall 2003, after the ban was imposed for all federal courtrooms in the Southern District of Florida -- from Fort Pierce to Key West.
At Nazzal Corner, a men's clothing shop down the street from the Miami courthouse, Abdul Nazzal accepts only tips. He keeps tabs on an average of 30 phones a week by scribbling on the back of a dog-earred envelope. "I do it for God,'' Nazzal said.
The cellphone ban, drafted by the U.S. Marshals Service in Florida, is a direct nod to the dark potential of technological advance. Government agents fear that phones with cameras or recorders could capture the identity of a protected witness, potential jurors or an undercover agent, said U.S. Marshals spokesman Barry Golden.
Officials also fear a terrorist may rig one to detonate a bomb from afar. Guards at the gate are prohibited from holding onto phones for this very reason."
Related cell phone and camera phones in court stories:
-- Jailtime For Letting A Phone Ring In Court - A 17-year-old girl was sentenced to 21 days in jail for contempt when her cell phone rang after a judge warned everyone in the courtroom to shut off all electronic devices
-- Prosecutor Jailed for Leaving Phone Off - A prosecutor was briefly sent to jail along with the man he helped convict of manslaughter after the lawyer refused a judge's order to turn on his cell phone.
-- A year in jail for using a cameraphone in court - A British man sentenced to 12 months in jail for using his cameraphone to take a photograph of a man in the dock, alongside security officers and a prosecution witness giving evidence, has lost his appeal.
- Man fined for taking a picture in South Wales court - A man was arrested and fined £250.- for taking a picture of a defendant in court (at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, south Wales), using a mobile phone.
-- Camera phones banned in Australia's courtrooms - Victoria's Supreme and county courts are reviewing security measures and considering banning mobile phones to safeguard the identities of key witnesses, within their precincts.
-- Picture phones banned in Oakland County Courthouse - Picture phones are no longer allowed in the Oakland County Courthouse, according to The Oakland Press.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2004/12/006480.htm
