Disruption of mobile service will "inevitably restrain" the ability of many innocent people to communicate, the groups added. Disruption of phone service violates the U.S. Constitution and telecommunication law, the groups said.

The filing from the digital rights groups gave several recent examples of other governments shutting down mobile service in efforts to disrupt protests. In the past year, the governments of Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, India and Cambodia have all shut down mobile communications in the name of security, the groups said.

The FCC has been seeking public comments on the BART incident.

Verizon Wireless, in its own comments, said disruption of mobile service should happen "as a last resort" for law enforcement agencies. A shutdown can affect a wide number of users beyond the targeted area, the carrier said.

Several individuals also wrote the FCC about mobile service disruptions. "Shutting off cell phones will abandon children, elderly and those with no landlines ... with no way to call for help themselves," one person wrote. "You cannot endanger the entire population by cutting off the public's emergency access via cell phone."