Many parents worry about the amount of time their kids are spending in front of screens.
So it’s reasonable to take steps to try and limit the social media, YouTube and video games.
But one dad went a little bit too far when the signal jammer he bought to get his kids offline ended up nuking the internet connection of his entire village.
The incident occurred in the town of Messanges, France and according to a report from the outlet France Bleu, the man in question now faces up to six months in prison.
The reason being the multi-wave band jammer he bought to prise his kids off their devices interferes with telecoms signals and is therefore illegal in France.
Incidentally, they’re also illegal in the UK and improper use can carry a penalty of up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.
When questioned by government officials, the unnamed dad said he only intended to try and knock out the connectivity to his own house from about midnight to 3am. In all likelihood just to get his kids to put their phones away and go to sleep.
But when the device, which was much more powerful than he thought, started to affect his neighbouring residents – they ended up reporting the outages.
‘He was thinking of depriving his only children of the internet and did not imagine that the wave jammer he was using would disrupt telecommunications in an area spanning two municipalities,’ reported France Bleu.
‘An investigation by the National Frequency Agency established his responsibility and legal proceedings were initiated.’
Reports like this one are more common than you may think. A couple of years ago, an old second-hand TV was responsible for causing internet outages in an entire Welsh village.
‘Anything with electric components – from outdoor lights to microwaves to CCTV cameras – can potentially have an impact on your broadband connection,’ commented Suzanne Rutherford from Openreach at the time.
Sadly, this particular dad is now facing up to six months in jail and a possible 30,000 euro fine. But hopefully his kids are spending a little less time in front of their screens as a result.
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