The technology works by measuring the interference provoked by obstacles, including (but not limited to) walking human bodies. As we walk within the range of two or more devices communicating with each other, our bodies momentarily alter the signal, reflecting and absorbing and diffracting the original 2.4GHz wave.
Now, say I live in a condo, sandwiched between two different neighbors (Alice and Bob), and both use this Xfinity thing: while Alice wander around her apartment while doing a VoIP call on her phone, Bob’s router is also broadcasting it’s SSID which is then received by Alice’s phone, even though Alice’s phone is connected to Alice’s router. The same goes for Bob’s phone, which will receive the Alice’s router SSID broadcast. And I, wandering around my own apartment, I’ll be between the invisible crossfire. I don’t even need to be carrying a phone, nor do I need to have a router. I just need to have at least two neighbors with routers and mobile devices sandwiching me between their radio signals.
Now, there are more sophisticated “WiFi vision” (used by military and police) which needs just a single Wi-Fi hotspot which will act as their “lamp”. The signal will bounce all around the place, and it’ll also pass through the walls, reaching the soldier’s equipment, which is composed of several small Wi-Fi receptors arranged in a grid (akin to “pixels” from a DSLR digital camera sensor).
Both can be mitigated with Faraday cages. Some kinds of chicken wire, used to make chicken coops, work beautifully and they use to be cheap (as strange as it may sound, a few-dollars thing can beat a thousand-dollars thing).
You are greatly exaggerating how the system works and what it can generate, and you’re conflating this service’s ability with that of professional espionage gear.
Alice’s router is reading the signal between Alice’s devices and her router. As part of the wifi protocol, the router can get precise recprical information about the signal strength of the devices connected to it. It’s not radar, it’s i know the thermostat is connected and has -10db singal, it’s at -11db now so there’s something in the way, we have movement. Say she has a wifi TV and a wifi on her cellphone, if she’s in between one of those devices or one of them moves closer, they can sense a change and movement. While they could try to listen to everything in the neighborhood, all they’d get is noise and fluctuations they’re not building a picture, move of a corkboard with thumbtacks and string, but they have no idea what direction any of the tacks are in just how hard it is to get to them.
Bobs router is reading his stuff and ignoring alice’s stuff. otherwise bob would get false positives.
Any radio emission in your house could be used like this with the right receivers.
They’re not getting any directionailty from this, the router has no idea what things are in what direction, just that there are changes in field strength. The condos below you or above you would also set it off if they were trying to just listen to everything.
You keep referring to it as a lamp. It’s less like a lamp and more like a speaker. the sound can carry through walls, but it’s muffled. The directionality is severely reduced even if you had fine tuned directional antennas to pinpoint it. It’s a little better than sound, but far closer to sound than light. The router is more like a mic. It’s in one static spot and is simply omnidirecional.
if one of the numbers change and the rest don’t, that’s movement. They’re not building pictures out of this.
Now, let’s talk faraday cages.
at 2.4GHz, your hole size would have to be about 6mm maximum. better off a three or less (like a microwave door)
at 5G that would be 3mm max You’re going to want brass mesh or something.
Then if you wanted to block mains, that’s powerful enough that you could be detected through changes in the the magnetic b field, good luck blocking that.
As long as we’re carrying cellphones with us at all times, none of this is particularly damning in comparison.
Signal attenuation is crap compared to directional homing in on the transmitter in your pocket.
@rumba@lemmy.zip
The technology works by measuring the interference provoked by obstacles, including (but not limited to) walking human bodies. As we walk within the range of two or more devices communicating with each other, our bodies momentarily alter the signal, reflecting and absorbing and diffracting the original 2.4GHz wave.
Now, say I live in a condo, sandwiched between two different neighbors (Alice and Bob), and both use this Xfinity thing: while Alice wander around her apartment while doing a VoIP call on her phone, Bob’s router is also broadcasting it’s SSID which is then received by Alice’s phone, even though Alice’s phone is connected to Alice’s router. The same goes for Bob’s phone, which will receive the Alice’s router SSID broadcast. And I, wandering around my own apartment, I’ll be between the invisible crossfire. I don’t even need to be carrying a phone, nor do I need to have a router. I just need to have at least two neighbors with routers and mobile devices sandwiching me between their radio signals.
Now, there are more sophisticated “WiFi vision” (used by military and police) which needs just a single Wi-Fi hotspot which will act as their “lamp”. The signal will bounce all around the place, and it’ll also pass through the walls, reaching the soldier’s equipment, which is composed of several small Wi-Fi receptors arranged in a grid (akin to “pixels” from a DSLR digital camera sensor).
Both can be mitigated with Faraday cages. Some kinds of chicken wire, used to make chicken coops, work beautifully and they use to be cheap (as strange as it may sound, a few-dollars thing can beat a thousand-dollars thing).
You are greatly exaggerating how the system works and what it can generate, and you’re conflating this service’s ability with that of professional espionage gear.
Alice’s router is reading the signal between Alice’s devices and her router. As part of the wifi protocol, the router can get precise recprical information about the signal strength of the devices connected to it. It’s not radar, it’s i know the thermostat is connected and has -10db singal, it’s at -11db now so there’s something in the way, we have movement. Say she has a wifi TV and a wifi on her cellphone, if she’s in between one of those devices or one of them moves closer, they can sense a change and movement. While they could try to listen to everything in the neighborhood, all they’d get is noise and fluctuations they’re not building a picture, move of a corkboard with thumbtacks and string, but they have no idea what direction any of the tacks are in just how hard it is to get to them.
Bobs router is reading his stuff and ignoring alice’s stuff. otherwise bob would get false positives.
Any radio emission in your house could be used like this with the right receivers.
They’re not getting any directionailty from this, the router has no idea what things are in what direction, just that there are changes in field strength. The condos below you or above you would also set it off if they were trying to just listen to everything.
You keep referring to it as a lamp. It’s less like a lamp and more like a speaker. the sound can carry through walls, but it’s muffled. The directionality is severely reduced even if you had fine tuned directional antennas to pinpoint it. It’s a little better than sound, but far closer to sound than light. The router is more like a mic. It’s in one static spot and is simply omnidirecional.
It’s only abile to see a table liket he following
MAC1:098324F3C40E89 -11.1 MAC2:19834F3C440E62 -12.9 MAC3:398321F3C40E28 -110.1 MAC4:4983423C440E15 -25.3 MAC5:598323F3C40E98 -16.8
if one of the numbers change and the rest don’t, that’s movement. They’re not building pictures out of this.
Now, let’s talk faraday cages.
at 2.4GHz, your hole size would have to be about 6mm maximum. better off a three or less (like a microwave door)
at 5G that would be 3mm max You’re going to want brass mesh or something.
Then if you wanted to block mains, that’s powerful enough that you could be detected through changes in the the magnetic b field, good luck blocking that.