From an article about cellphone jamming:
“If anything characterizes the 21st century, it’s our inability to restrain ourselves for the benefit of other people,” said James Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University. “The cellphone talker thinks his rights go above that of people around him, and the jammer thinks his are the more important rights.”
The problem with this analysis of rights is that it omits the necessary complement of responsibility. Both rights are equally valid -- the talker and the one who wishes for quiet. (The jammer doesn't actually have the right to jam, but let's assume he's not really jamming, and just wishing he could enjoy a quieter subway ride home from Foggy Bottom.)
Every exercise of a right should include a careful examination of associated responsibility. Might you upset someone nearby if you engage in a long phone call? The government cannot mandate this, but for society to work, you need to consider it.
That's what I say. And if I felt like typing more, I'd write up a fringe-case analysis of the situation. Maybe later.