Australians have been debating the use of mobile jamming devices with renewed vigour with the majority of respondents to a ZDNet Australia survey agreeing that such technology should be used in high-risk areas such as service stations.

Sixty-four percent of the 643 responses received in the survey said they believed some areas should be protected by mobile phone jamming technology, despite it being an offence to operate or supply, or possess for the purpose of operation or supply, such a device in Australia since March 1999.

Only 36 percent of the responses supported the ban on mobile phone jamming equipment was justified due to the disruption it could cause on calls to emergency services.

In a previous article by ZDNet Australia, the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) said that such devices remain illegal in Australia and that there are no moves to address the issue in the near future. The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) agreed with the ACA's ban on the technology. -It's not only illegal, it's very dangerous," AMTA's Ross Monaghan said. -If you're in a particular shop and you're a doctor on call, how would you know calls were being jammed?"

ZDNet readers were quick to take up the issue.

-Put a jamming sign on the door. That way doctors on call won't go inside when they're on call," Peter Brule, a telecoms engineer from Sydney said. -Phoning is not a right, it's a privilege. In some places phoning is as repulsive as smoking."

Adam Rosner, an analyst programmer form New Zealand believes mobile phone use is a freedom that should not be abused.

-Freedom carries responsibilities. If you like free speech and don't like censorship, don't publish material that gives pro-censorship lobbyists fuel for their arguments. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Similarly, if you like mobile phones, don't use them in a way that will make people want to use jamming technology."

High on the list of debateable issues was whether or not jamming technology was more an inconvenience than a danger, with one ZDNet reader, a Melbourne-based programmer wading in with the question: -What did people do before mobile phones? Have people really become that dependent on such fallible technology?"

He also pointed out that mobile phones are known to be a problem in exam situations. "I'm sure state governments across Australia would consider a mobile phone jammer to help combat cheating in tests."

A father of three, and ZDNet reader, conceded that his preference that mobile jammers be banned was a matter or convenience, pointing out that the need to return emergence calls to his children would override any other issue. At times when his mobile would disturb people around him, in a restaurant or cinema for example, he said he turned his mobile on silent but placed it somewhere where he could see it flashing.

This is something AMTA's Monaghan agrees with, saying he'd hate to see jamming technology become legal, especially when there are other alternatives mobile phone users could use -as common courtesy" not to disturb others around them, such as switching mobile phones to vibrate.

-Most people do, when asked, switch their mobile phone off," he said.

However, in some -high risk" areas, such as hospitals where mobile phone interferes with medical equipment, jamming technology, which creates radiation of its own, intensifies the problem.

St Vincent's hospital in Sydney said it would not support the use of jamming technology

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