There is supposedly wireless-blocking paint. Only active blocking is illegal.
I'll wager the vast majority of the calls that are made from within the store go something like "honey do you need anything, I saw X it reminded me of Y, do you want me to pick one up while I'm here?"
Until there is a hostage situation in such a store and some of the survivors complain that they tried to call the cops before the hostage-taker confiscated their phone, but couldn't because of the wireless-blocking paint...
You worry too much. There are plenty of existing buildings that naturally get little-to-no cell reception.
Not necessarily 'worrying' so much as just sayin'. And there is a difference between a building that naturally gets little-to-no cell reception and a building that was actively constructed to block it out.
If it's RF-absorbing paint (and not RF-reflecting), and it becomes more commercially available, will people start using it to paint other things they don't want seen by radio waves?
All you need is a building with walls, then BAM, Sprint is blocked.
The FCC strictly prohibits this I believe.
They can't prohibit a store from building thick cement walls or putting metal cages around the walls. The only thing banned is cell-blockers.
Once they start messing with that, legal or not, I feel there will be a huge political backlash. While the confrontation will be fascinating to watch, I believe the "stop messing with the cell phone" party will win.
It really depends on if you can prove malicious intent. I know in the back of Wal Mart, for example, my cell reception is terrible. There are metal walls everywhere, thick metal shelves, and the back of the store is made of concrete and rebar. When I go into a store, I really expect my cell service to drop out. I expect a lot of people have the same expectation.
Only if they use electronic methods such as jammers. As far as I can tell there is no law against making a building a large faraday cage isn't prohibited.
Although the millions spent renovating the stores will make them even less competitive and drive more customers to shop with Amazon.
Until the day that wars are fought with EMP bombs.
That's my understanding as well, but they could try some surreptitious methods that would stop shy of using an actual jammer.
"We've been meaning to get that cash register fixed."
Although the FCC wouldn't take that excuse more than once. (And maybe not once.)
The easier way is to have your own SKUs (barcodes), so they don't get a match on Amazon. This also prevents people from price-matching.