bart

Bart Jansen had two cats, named Orville and Wilbur, after the famous flying Wright brothers of Kitty Hawk. When dear Orville passed away, the visual artist and designer created a new kind of Kitty Hawk.

The Orvillecopter is a quadrocopter with Orville's skin stretched over it. Orville was killed by a car, Jansen mourned, and then he went about concocting a tribute.… Read more

The Federal Communications Commission wants to know what the public has to say about government officials asking carriers to disable cell service for public safety purposes. The agency's concern is a reaction to last year's cutting of service by San Francisco Bay Area subway police ahead of a protest.

"Our democracy, our society, and our safety all require communications networks that are available and open, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. "Any interruption of wireless services raises serious legal and policy issues, and must meet a very high bar. The FCC, as the agency … Read more

The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission says the agency will review the new rules adopted by the San Francisco subway that allow officials to shut down cell service in the subway stations because of the legal and policy issues it raises.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, adopted a policy yesterday that bars officials from interrupting cell service in subway stations except in "extraordinary circumstances," such as when there is evidence of imminent unlawful activity that threatens the safety of people, property destruction, or disruption of subway service.

"Today BART took … Read more

The San Francisco Bay Area Transit District adopted a policy today that bars officials from interrupting cell service in subway stations except in "extraordinary circumstances."

The policy, which is believed to be the first policy governing intentional cell service disruption in subways, comes in response to a public backlash over BART for shutting off cell service to head off a protest this summer.

Under the new policy, BART may temporarily interrupt cell service only when it determines that there is "strong evidence of imminent unlawful activity that threatens the safety" of passengers, employees and the public, … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif.--Bay Area Rapid Transit should only interfere with public communications in extreme emergencies, a director for the agency said in a special meeting called here today to discuss its cutting off of cell phone service to block an anti-police violence protest a few weeks ago.

"The First Amendment and the right to have a communications channel are what people are looking for because it's part of this democratic society we live in...We can't sit back like Big Brother and say we don't like the message," said Lynette Sweet, a member of the … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--Criticisms aimed at the San Francisco Bay Area's subway system for temporarily pulling the plug on cellular service have raised "very valid points," a federal regulator said.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said that the agency is still investigating what happened when BART pulled the plug on cell service on August 11 in four subway stations in downtown San Francisco in anticipation of a protest. (A BART board meeting is currently under way--check back later for CNET coverage.)

"What the heck happened, what precedent does it set, were there any laws that were broken?" … Read more

The San Francisco-area transit system targeted by hackers after it cut wireless service in its subway prior to a protest, posted a letter to customers today explaining its position and announcing plans for a public meeting on the issue.

"BART's temporary interruption of cell phone service was not intended to and did not affect any First Amendment rights of any person to protest in a lawful manner in areas at BART stations that are open for expressive activity," reads the letter, posted on the BART Web site and signed by Bob Franklin, president of the Bay Area … Read more

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Wednesday, August 17.

• It looks like hackers haven't given up on BART. Last week, SF subway officials shut down cell phone service and have since taken the media spotlight as hackers respond to the communication lockdown. Today, data containing full names, passwords, e-mail addresses, and passwords was leaked from the BART Police Officers Association's Web site, making it the second site, affiliated with BART, to be hacked.

• And of course, here's more news on Google's Motorola … Read more

Hackers have broken into a second Web site affiliated with the San Francisco Bay Area subway system, which has come under fire in the last week for turning off cell phone service before a planned protest.

A database belonging to the BART Police Officers Association was posted online today, complete with full names, e-mail addresses, home addresses, and passwords. BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the embarrassing information leak--a Twitter account affiliated with Anonymous said that no one has "claimed responsibility for the hack," and speculated that it … Read more