3 ms·

This sounds like an acoustic analog of the radio tracking device that was disclosed by Snowden a decade ago involving a quarter wave antenna that was selectivel

This sounds like an acoustic analog of the radio tracking device that was disclosed by Snowden a decade ago involving a quarter wave antenna that was selectively grounded. It was trackable at 20 miles, and totally passive. It could run for months on a single coin cell battery.

beebeepka 3y ago
I guess I was so enthralled with the rest, that I have missed this device. If it's totally passive, what's the battery for?
- myself248 3y ago
  Observing the parameter being monitored and deciding whether to ground or not ground the resonant element. "Passive" in this case meaning that none of the battery power was turned into RF. It did not produce any RF. It merely absorbed more or less RF to encode information.
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago
  "Passive" in this case meant it didn't emit its own signals per se; active sonar emits an audible noise (which can easily be traced back to an origin), passive sonar just listens.
- dylan604 3y ago
  The trove of information released around the time of the Snowden leaks are not all necessarily from Snowden. There was a second leak that everyone likes to attribute to Snowden. Most of the info on the gadgets that I had seen seem to all be from the second source. But, yeah, they had some pretty cool toys.
muxator 3y ago
Now this is really really cool (technologically; let's not talk about the implications for people's freedom). Do you happen to have some pointer were read more about this? Thanks
- sneak 3y ago
  It's probably one of these: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/ANT_catalog https://www.wikiwand.com/en/ANT_catalog Likely TAWDRYYARD: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/File:NSA_TAWDRYYARD.jpg https://www.wikiwand.com/en/File:NSA_TAWDRYYARD.jpg See also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
  - mikewarot 3y ago
    It was TAWDRYYARD, but apparently I'm wayyy off in my recollection of it's range.
    - mikewarot 3y ago
      There are devices with longer range, I'm sure if the bandwidth is reduced, the range could go up. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_backscatter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_backscatter

beebeepka 3y ago

I guess I was so enthralled with the rest, that I have missed this device. If it's totally passive, what's the battery for?

myself248 3y ago
Observing the parameter being monitored and deciding whether to ground or not ground the resonant element. "Passive" in this case meaning that none of the battery power was turned into RF. It did not produce any RF. It merely absorbed more or less RF to encode information.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
"Passive" in this case meant it didn't emit its own signals per se; active sonar emits an audible noise (which can easily be traced back to an origin), passive sonar just listens.
dylan604 3y ago
The trove of information released around the time of the Snowden leaks are not all necessarily from Snowden. There was a second leak that everyone likes to attribute to Snowden. Most of the info on the gadgets that I had seen seem to all be from the second source. But, yeah, they had some pretty cool toys.

muxator 3y ago

Now this is really really cool (technologically; let's not talk about the implications for people's freedom). Do you happen to have some pointer were read more about this? Thanks

sneak 3y ago
It's probably one of these: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/ANT_catalog https://www.wikiwand.com/en/ANT_catalog Likely TAWDRYYARD: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/File:NSA_TAWDRYYARD.jpg https://www.wikiwand.com/en/File:NSA_TAWDRYYARD.jpg See also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
- mikewarot 3y ago
  It was TAWDRYYARD, but apparently I'm wayyy off in my recollection of it's range.
  - mikewarot 3y ago
    There are devices with longer range, I'm sure if the bandwidth is reduced, the range could go up. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_backscatter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_backscatter