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RF-Blocking Wallpaper
spitefulcrow writes "Silicon.com is reporting on a new application for RF-absorbing materials: Wallpaper that blocks Wi-Fi. BAE, the British defense contractor, has announced that the same material used to foil radar by stealth bombers can be used to selectively block certain frequencies and prevent wireless networking signals from entering or exiting a building. Is this the next take on lining the walls with lead?"
Sounds good if you're doing a makeover of, say, a secure military area.
Obviously you can still pipe stuff through wires. (you know, those plastic/rubber coated strings of metal? remember them?)
If you were concerned enough about Wi-Fi security to buy this stuff, wouldn't you consider Wi-Fi enough of a security problem to ban it from your network environment? And what if this stuff doesn't come in the right color? Also - does anyone use IPSec on Wi-Fi networks? (given that WEP can be cracked with a large enough data capture)
Why take the risk of an outsider breaking your encryption if you can prevent their access to the signal in the first place?
business owners are real people
10 years from now todays encryption will be easily breakable but many secrets still relevant/important
(no access, no loss, no liability...)
The attacker may well be inside the building; business offices are generally not run as military zones! And what about the windows of the building; will they be covered too? Breaking high encryption is probably not as easy as bribing a staff member to for access.
___
internet, productivity blog
UK **defence** contractor
For some applications encryption isn't enough. Note also that WEP is a commercial encryption system this means it is NOT secure enough for very serious military applications which is where technologies like this play a role by preventing leakage or blocking interference.
"Why not just encrypt?"
Uh, when's the last time you had the electrons from your monitor's gun encrypted on the way to the screen? Right, never. That's what i thought...there are many, many forms of RF that can give away what it is that you are doing on a computer...encryption is only the beginning of the game.
So place a red phone in every theatre with a low-level lit sign to show everyone where it is in an emergency.
What about the windows and doors? RF goes through them too. I could just see somebody wallpapering their ceiling also. (It's such a lovely print though!)
It really strikes me as a product for the "Security-Concerned-But-Uninformed", because I really wonder how many companies that want to use this will block other means of RF egress. And those that don't will simply have a false sense of security and a big hole in their "defenses".
Believe me, I'm literally right across the hall from a "RF-Secure" room at times, and that has EVERYTHING covered in every direction, windows, doors, floor and ceiling.
@Whee
If being contactable means they have to spoil everyone else's enjoyment of the film, then...
Yes. Absolutely. I want to exclude these people from the cinema completely.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Because if you emit RF, you're giving your opponent another way to track your position. I'm not a military strategist, but advertising your position and time of presense (increased activity) sounds like a bad idea to me.
Stuff like this will restore the peace and quiet to theaters and restaurants. And the passive nature of the material means it should not run afoul of U.S. FCC regs on "interference" (I don't know about other countries' rules).
Assuming the material is actually absorptive (not reflective) at cell-phone frequencies, it would also reduce the passage of cellphone signals into and out of airplanes and reduce any chance of passenger's cell phone transmissions from interfering with the airplane's electronics or the ground-based cells they are flying over.
Finally, they could use the stuff to help separate WiFi networks in office and apartment buildings. A layer of the stuff under the carpet or in the ceiling would keep wifi signals confined to a single tenant's floor or section of the building so that different tenant's wireless nets don't collide.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
However, we should never block cell phone reception anywhere.
What if a doctor were to go watch a movie and one of his patients started dying and he needed to be contacted? What if a loved one were in an accident and people were trying to get ahold of you so you could possibly see them before they died?
There are many scenarios where having cell reception is important.
Just try to use the vibrate or silent mode. I can deal with people forgetting to turn their phones off in a movie (though I myself have the courtesy to turn mine off), as long as they don't yack on them in the theater.
Conserve Oil, Recycle, Boycott Walmart
I would be surprised if the military was not encrypting the traffic as well. Even if you do have the link encrypted, it is still better if "the enemy" does not know that a message was passed in the first place.
Read, L
Serriosely if you job requires your assistance even when your in a cinema... and you can't escape for a measly 2 hours, get a new job.
I'm a parent.
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wrap the drug infusion pumps...
I bet it would cost a lot less than wallpapering the entire hospital...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
There is a definitive answer when you are talking about non-ionizing radiation like radio waves: if there is any deleterious health effect, it is so small that it cannot be reproducibly measured even in studies involving tens of thousands of individuals.
Pampered Western worry-warts would do well to drop their concerns about non-ionizing radiation from power lines and cell phones, and worry more about things with real consequences like what they eat and drink and smoke.
For that matter, they need to get over their fixation with low levels of ionizing radiation as well. Many millions of lives could be saved if nuclear power became universal, and oil became a useless pollutant best left in the ground.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
I know at least one restaurant that would use it. After having dealt with pricks who won't get off the phone to place an order, management has been looking for a way to do away with cell phone signals. I'm also sure that many movie theaters would also be interested in being able to make sure that no one can get a call in the actual theaters.
Sure there are going to be some home users, but let's face it, for some businesses this will be a god send.
TANSTAAFL
I have a feeling the field strength in your home from nearby TV and radio transmitters, not to mention hydrogen-alpha radiation from the universe at large, is much higher than a WLAN would be. Do you live in a shielded box?
governments are several steps ahead!
They'd like us to think that, but it's probably not true, in general.
Based on what the public cryptology industry can see, it's likely that the NSA is well ahead of us in stream ciphers and key management, somewhat ahead of us in block ciphers and they probably learn from the public community with regard to public key crypto.
This article contains a long thread examining some of the NSA's previous public successes and failures and inferring from them the state of their capability.
As for the ways in which governments might utilize this RF-blocking wall paper, I'll tell you how they'd really use it: In installations where sensitive data is not handled. Organizations, like militaries, who really care about security tend to take precautions with non-sensitive data on the theory that an enemy who collects and correlates enough non-sensitive data can deduce something important. Because of this, they will just refuse to use wireless networks even for unclassified data, because they make collection of large volumes of unclassified data too easy.
This RF-blocking wallpaper may be good enough that they decide they can use wireless for unclassified networks.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
What if a doctor were to go watch a movie and one of his patients started dying and he needed to be contacted?
He's a doctor - don't you think he can choose a theater that isn't blocked or -GASP!- watch something at home?
What if a loved one were in an accident and people were trying to get ahold of you so you could possibly see them before they died?
So, I should be subjected to people talking on their phones on the off chance that something tragic might require a phone call? Get some perspective - the odds of an hour making that sort of difference while at the same time leaving you sufficient time to actually et there are remote in the extreme.
There are many scenarios where having cell reception is important.
Not nearly as many as you think. Most of the situations where you think it's important are actually just situations where it's convenient. You wouldn't even consider contacting someone if you didn't think it was easy.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
I'm a parent.
And for the first 5 years or so, you won't be able to go out very much. If you're worried about junior swallowing bleach when the babysitter isn't looking, then perhaps you should choose an activity that is easy to interrupt. Personally, I like the idea of RF blocked theaters. If you don't, then don't go there.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
don't you think he can choose a theater that isn't blocked or -GASP!- watch something at home?
He wouldn't be able to pick an unblocked theater for the same reason you can't pick a blocked one today. And why can't YOU stay at home?
So, I should be subjected to people talking on their phones
Does this often happen in a place where people aren't otherwise allowed to talk? And if this annoys you, how often do you ask them to shut up?
Most doctors still even carry them.
They vibrate and let the owner know they need to contact someone without annoying the other few hundred people around them...
That's nice. Put your phone on vibrate. When it rings and says "Home" (or worse, the sitter's cell phone #) get up, go into the hallway, and answer it. If you're not fast enough, witness the wonder of using the "missed calls" list. This is also why god invented text messaging, which we Americans just haven't seemed to figure out quite yet. "Nick is screaming for his ba-wa-na, what/where is that?" "Joey ran into the wall, at e-room, hes ok but need med insurance info". Etc.
Incidentally, for well over half a decade people went to the cinema, dinner, etc and left their kids behind with a sitter...with no cell phone. Don't give me this "I'm a parent, I simply must be within seconds contact of my children at all times" bullshit.
Please help metamoderate.
I'm a parent.
No, you're an over protective control freak who just happens to also be a parent.
Parents have managed to be away from their children for two hours or more for millenia without the world exploding. Look out the window, the human race seems to have made it this far just fine.
Some bad things will happen to your children in life. That's actually natural. The child who's never been allowed to fall, get a cold, cut themselves or anything else will be chronically ill prepared to live a life outside of your protective bubble.
I know it's scary but let it happen. It's better for the kid to have some [limited] exposure to the reall world. They'll grow up much better adjusted for it.
Leave them with a sitter. Tell the sitter where you're going and, in a major emergency, they can call the theater itself. It's worked for thousands of years, it can work for you too.
I agree that cell phones are abused way too often. (Jerks taking useless calls in a theater is a prime example)
Yes, I think we all agree on that.
However, we should never block cell phone reception anywhere.
Bullshit. We should never block reception EVERYwhere I can agree with, but not ever anywhere.
There are some places where it is simply inappropriate to even HAVE a cell phone. Say, an operating suite? Do you REALLY want the RFI, or someone distracted by a call while you're on the slab?
No? Didn't think so.
What if a doctor were to go watch a movie and one of his patients started dying and he needed to be contacted? What if a loved one were in an accident and people were trying to get ahold of you so you could possibly see them before they died?
Honestly? My personal emergency doesn't give me the right to inconvenience 300 other people. If it was ONLY emergency calls, then we could accept it. But it's not. It's crap calls. Blocking the one in a million honest emergencies to block the 99.999% crap?
Where's my wallpaper paste.
There are many scenarios where having cell reception is important.
Yes, there are. There are also many situations where not having cell phone reception is a matter of "enforced common courtesy."
The idea that because we have always on communications means we need always on communications needs to stop.
Just try to use the vibrate or silent mode. I can deal with people forgetting to turn their phones off in a movie (though I myself have the courtesy to turn mine off), as long as they don't yack on them in the theater.
Yes. We agree. But how does that change the fact that MOST people don't bother? Sorry, if Heir Doktor can't be out of touch for a couple of hours, then maybe he shouldn't be going to the theater.
He accepted the responsibility. That doesn't mean he gets to impose it on the rest of us.
Never attribute to malice what can as easily be the result of incompetence...