THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP HOST: JOHN MCLAUGHLIN PANEL: PATRICK BUCHANAN, MSNBC;
ELEANOR CLIFT, NEWSWEEK; TONY BLANKLEY, THE WASHINGTON TIMES; MORT ZUCKERMAN,
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT TAPED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2007 BROADCAST: WEEKEND OF
OCTOBER 13-14, 2007
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Issue Four: Chatter Zapper.

Is it a new wave of technology, or is it an anti-wave? They're called cell
phone jammers, capable of voiding any conversation within 20 feet. This
combative technology has been called "revenge tech" or "design noir" or
"annoyance tech."

We've all been there. You're sitting on a sold-out train, a crowded bus. It
starts with a cell phone ring, some zany, cacophonous sound. Then the person
sitting next to you picks up her cell phone. The agony begins; first the
retelling of her day, then it is a round of "He said, she said," then what's
for dinner.

Unobtrusively you reach over and take out your "revenge tech" device -- zap.
That takes care of that.

Question: Are cell phone jammers the way to restore civility? I ask you, Mort.

MR. ZUCKERMAN: No, I'm a total addict to these cell phones, so you're not going
to get me on that side of it, I've got to tell you. I couldn't function without
it. And a lot of people feel the same way.

MR. BLANKLEY: Well, I share all of the sentiments of hostility to people who
use loud cell phones. But I think our natural sense of restraint and decency
will refrain from actually zapping them.

MS. CLIFT: It would only create cell phone rage along the pattern of road rage,
once you've figured out who zapped you. And I can't believe it's constitutional
that you can run around zapping people's conversations.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: I think it's a pseudo-problem. It's a pseudo- problem, because
technology will now devise a jam-proof telephone or the chatter will not work.

MR. BUCHANAN: I think you need it as a last resort.