3 ms·

Time for houses with faraday cages built into the external walls?

cmckn 5y ago
Oh this is definitely already a thing among conspiracy theorists, I saw an episode[0] of Grand Designs New Zealand recently in which a couple paid thousands of dollars for paint and wire mesh to block electromagnetic radiation. I guess there's still room for improvement though, because in the end, you could still make a cellular call inside. [0] s02e02
- h2odragon 5y ago
  Ya want windows? ya got signal. Imagine what's available to those who work in multi terahertz bands with joyous abandon.
  - cmckn 5y ago
    They actually purchased drapes for the bedroom that were (allegedly) to address this! But yeah, not a great way to spend 15k. The home was on a large, rural property, so at least they'll escape the Alexanet.
  - anoncake 5y ago
    I don't think a competent conspiracy theorist would run Windows.
    - h2odragon 5y ago
      OpenBSD for many of them, MSDOS for the more hardcore, and things like CP/M or older operating systems depending on obscure hardware for the true freaks. Alphas were good for that, but the financial industry (at least) wanted them too.
catlifeonmars 5y ago
Or just, you know, not operating participating Amazon devices. Call me crazy.
- prawn 5y ago
  Or use an Amazon device but opt-out of this shared service.
  - ivanstojic 5y ago
    I know this is cynical of me, but it’s 2021, and I’ve read enough apology emails from companies saying “whoops we didn’t mean to exfil your data, so sorry!” to know that this checkbox only means “don’t exfil my data right now.”
- brewdad 5y ago
  This is becoming more difficult as Alexa services are being built into more and more consumer goods. I've seen microwaves, thermostats, headphones, clock radios and more with Alexa inside.
stordoff 5y ago
I very briefly looked into this when I was refurbishing a house[1], and didn't see anything that wasn't ludicrously expensive, a scam, or both. Is there even a practical way of doing this? We've actually got a wire mesh in most of the walls due to the building materials used, but you can still pick up a (fairly weak) signal outside, mobile phones work, and windows defeat it (connection possible at >100m with generic hardware if you have line of sight through a window). [1] Just to reduce interference from external WiFi, mostly as a curiosity

Oh this is definitely already a thing among conspiracy theorists, I saw an episode[0] of Grand Designs New Zealand recently in which a couple paid thousands of dollars for paint and wire mesh to block electromagnetic radiation. I guess there's still room for improvement though, because in the end, you could still make a cellular call inside. [0] s02e02

h2odragon 5y ago
Ya want windows? ya got signal. Imagine what's available to those who work in multi terahertz bands with joyous abandon.
- cmckn 5y ago
  They actually purchased drapes for the bedroom that were (allegedly) to address this! But yeah, not a great way to spend 15k. The home was on a large, rural property, so at least they'll escape the Alexanet.
- anoncake 5y ago
  I don't think a competent conspiracy theorist would run Windows.
  - h2odragon 5y ago
    OpenBSD for many of them, MSDOS for the more hardcore, and things like CP/M or older operating systems depending on obscure hardware for the true freaks. Alphas were good for that, but the financial industry (at least) wanted them too.

catlifeonmars 5y ago

Or just, you know, not operating participating Amazon devices. Call me crazy.

prawn 5y ago
Or use an Amazon device but opt-out of this shared service.
- ivanstojic 5y ago
  I know this is cynical of me, but it’s 2021, and I’ve read enough apology emails from companies saying “whoops we didn’t mean to exfil your data, so sorry!” to know that this checkbox only means “don’t exfil my data right now.”
brewdad 5y ago
This is becoming more difficult as Alexa services are being built into more and more consumer goods. I've seen microwaves, thermostats, headphones, clock radios and more with Alexa inside.

stordoff 5y ago

I very briefly looked into this when I was refurbishing a house[1], and didn't see anything that wasn't ludicrously expensive, a scam, or both. Is there even a practical way of doing this? We've actually got a wire mesh in most of the walls due to the building materials used, but you can still pick up a (fairly weak) signal outside, mobile phones work, and windows defeat it (connection possible at >100m with generic hardware if you have line of sight through a window). [1] Just to reduce interference from external WiFi, mostly as a curiosity