Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Aluminum Foil Hats Will Not Stop "Them"

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the time-to-switch-to-a-poly-carbon-blend dept.

Otter writes "A study at MIT has found that aluminum foil headwear ("Among a fringe community of paranoids..the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals") actually amplifies certain frequency bands allocated to the US government, as well as a mobile phone range, and is largely ineffective through the rest of the radio spectrum. But we can we trust the study, or are They controlling the researchers?"

2 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. Re:An interesting thing by TheMeuge · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I was doing my psychiatry rotation they explained that paranoia is usually relative to the cultural environment in which the person was brought up. For people who grew up in cities, the "government conspiracy" paranoia is most common. For those who were brought up in rural areas, the "aliens" conspiracy is most widespread. And obviously for those who were brought up religiosly, "demonic possession" is the price element of paranoia. Obviously most real cases are mixes of these, but it is easy to see that people get their paranoid ideations from the fears that are most prevalent in their environment.

  2. This is actually true - GPS tinfoil hat tests by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting
    We actually had occasion to use a tinfoil hat when testing the Overbot for the DARPA Grand Challenge. To simulate a loss of GPS signal, we put a tinfoil hat over the GPS antenna.

    Our first hat was a stainless steel mixing bowl. GPS reception continued. We were even able to get WAAS and Omnistar HP lockup with the mixing bowl on top of the antenna.

    An actual tinfoil hat cut off more of GPS, but we could still get "single" GPS signals, although not the corrections for Omnistar.

    So the radiolocation bands really do get through.