4 ms·

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study

72 points by rms 17y ago

taitems 17y ago
Excuse us non-technical foreign people, but this says that wearing tin foil hats actually amplifies radio signals instead of blocking them? And paranoid people wear them under the false impression it will block government radio signals?
- makmanalp 17y ago
  This "study" is obviously disinformation spread by the government... :)
- dave_au 17y ago
  Aaaargh - I don't want to give away the punchline but I also don't like the idea of some people becoming horribly confused. If only HN has spoiler tags...
  - sp332 17y ago
    http://www.rot13.com/ http://www.rot13.com/
m_eiman 17y ago
Hang on, an amplification of 30dB at 2.6GHz? Sounds like someone needs to check if a tinfoil hat can be used to improve Wifi reception! Is it close enough to 2.4GHz to be of any use?
- olliesaunders 17y ago
  Yes it can, that's been done.
  - m_eiman 17y ago
    Cool. Does it work for both receiving and transmitting? If it does, there should be a business opportunity in tinfoil hats for laptops.
- dbz 17y ago
  On my wireless thingy- it has two antennae. I made two tinfoil "dishes" around them. The antenna are always at the focal point so they can receive signals from farther away. It works- but if it is not at the focal point it might not work, so my suggestion is drawing the hyperbola first and then finding the focal point.
abrahamsen 17y ago
Already debunked: http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectiveness http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectivene...
onreact-com 17y ago
This is satire, isn't it?
jacquesm 17y ago
It is good to see that the MIT takes the interests of the truly paranoid so serious. What surprises me though about the whole affair is that the government allowed this information to be released. In our circles the fallibility of the tinfoil hat is well known, which is why those are only used in emergencies (an emergency is a paranoid individual emerging from their den or dwelling). Personally I prefer the 'whole cage' approach. This is a little more involved than the tin-foil hat, but well worth the investment imho. To implement it simply coat every surface of your house with chicken wire, make sure to make solid interconnections (preferably soldered) every couple of inches where two sections meet, and do not forget the windows (you'll get used to it quickly enough). I'm still a little worried about my internet connection being used to inject radiation into my carefully constructed cage of Faraday, so I've put all my computing gear behind grounded chicken wire as well. The only things protruding are the mouse and the keyboard, since the installation of the cage I sleep much better, feel much better in general and my headaches are gone. I can recommend it whole heartedly.
- DanielBMarkham 17y ago
  <humor qualitylevel='poor'> A fine copper mesh is much better. I notice that the propeller-head tinfoil hat was not mentioned in the study -- obviously to lead us astray from its powerful abilities. Also the Cowboy model, which as I understand it prevents cows from interfering with your delicate private matters. I know that only when I finally accepted the fact that aliens were talking to me from my microwave I was able to establish communication with their race and make all this progress. Who'd would have thought? An entire planet led by Orville Redenbacher. I'm currently working on a SCIF for my X-box. Hope to have that finished by the time the invading spaceships arrive so I can fight them off with Halo, which is NOT a video game. It's actually a battle-control device that remotely controls events on their home planet. </humor>
nico 17y ago
Hahahaahaha :D
azgolfer 17y ago
Next they should address the spider problem. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/meth_addicts_demand_government http://www.theonion.com/content/news/meth_addicts_demand_gov...

72 points by rms 17y ago

Excuse us non-technical foreign people, but this says that wearing tin foil hats actually amplifies radio signals instead of blocking them? And paranoid people wear them under the false impression it will block government radio signals?

makmanalp 17y ago
This "study" is obviously disinformation spread by the government... :)
dave_au 17y ago
Aaaargh - I don't want to give away the punchline but I also don't like the idea of some people becoming horribly confused. If only HN has spoiler tags...
- sp332 17y ago
  http://www.rot13.com/ http://www.rot13.com/

m_eiman 17y ago

Hang on, an amplification of 30dB at 2.6GHz? Sounds like someone needs to check if a tinfoil hat can be used to improve Wifi reception! Is it close enough to 2.4GHz to be of any use?

olliesaunders 17y ago
Yes it can, that's been done.
- m_eiman 17y ago
  Cool. Does it work for both receiving and transmitting? If it does, there should be a business opportunity in tinfoil hats for laptops.
dbz 17y ago
On my wireless thingy- it has two antennae. I made two tinfoil "dishes" around them. The antenna are always at the focal point so they can receive signals from farther away. It works- but if it is not at the focal point it might not work, so my suggestion is drawing the hyperbola first and then finding the focal point.

abrahamsen 17y ago

Already debunked: http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectiveness http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectivene...

onreact-com 17y ago

This is satire, isn't it?

jacquesm 17y ago

It is good to see that the MIT takes the interests of the truly paranoid so serious. What surprises me though about the whole affair is that the government allowed this information to be released. In our circles the fallibility of the tinfoil hat is well known, which is why those are only used in emergencies (an emergency is a paranoid individual emerging from their den or dwelling). Personally I prefer the 'whole cage' approach. This is a little more involved than the tin-foil hat, but well worth the investment imho. To implement it simply coat every surface of your house with chicken wire, make sure to make solid interconnections (preferably soldered) every couple of inches where two sections meet, and do not forget the windows (you'll get used to it quickly enough). I'm still a little worried about my internet connection being used to inject radiation into my carefully constructed cage of Faraday, so I've put all my computing gear behind grounded chicken wire as well. The only things protruding are the mouse and the keyboard, since the installation of the cage I sleep much better, feel much better in general and my headaches are gone. I can recommend it whole heartedly.

DanielBMarkham 17y ago
<humor qualitylevel='poor'> A fine copper mesh is much better. I notice that the propeller-head tinfoil hat was not mentioned in the study -- obviously to lead us astray from its powerful abilities. Also the Cowboy model, which as I understand it prevents cows from interfering with your delicate private matters. I know that only when I finally accepted the fact that aliens were talking to me from my microwave I was able to establish communication with their race and make all this progress. Who'd would have thought? An entire planet led by Orville Redenbacher. I'm currently working on a SCIF for my X-box. Hope to have that finished by the time the invading spaceships arrive so I can fight them off with Halo, which is NOT a video game. It's actually a battle-control device that remotely controls events on their home planet. </humor>

nico 17y ago

Hahahaahaha :D

azgolfer 17y ago

Next they should address the spider problem. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/meth_addicts_demand_government http://www.theonion.com/content/news/meth_addicts_demand_gov...