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Newly Declassified Window Film Keeps Out Snoops
An anonymous reader writes to describe a newly declassified window film from CPFilms Inc. that could give war drivers fits. Scientific American has the story, which includes a rather dismissive comment by Bruce Schneier.
"Once manufactured under an exclusive contract with the US government, this recently declassified window film is now available to the public. But don't expect to see it on store shelves anytime soon. Currently, it's only available directly from the manufacturer, and at prices that will likely make it prohibitive for all but the wealthiest home owners.
The two-millimeter-thick coating can block Wi-Fi signals, cell phone transmissions, even the near-infrared, yet is almost transparent... It can keep signals in (preventing attempts to spy on electronic communications) or out, minimizing radio interference and even the fabled electronics-destroying electromagnetic pulse generated by a nuclear blast."
I would like the get rid of the tin foil ...
-- Make America hate again!
I don't know much about radio signals, but what about the walls and paneling? Can they get through that?
I spent part of the article thinking, "big deal about the price, someone will just torrent it and that'll be that."
If They could make it into a wallpaper they could apply it to the inside of cinemas so assholes will not sit next to you and text people through the entire film.
You should get rid of it anyway. http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
A version of Windows that can keep things out!
War Drivers? Huh, yeah. What are they good for? Absolutely nothing now.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
Can't blame the editors. The claim regarding resistance to EMP is a direct quote from (the ad copy embedded in the middle of) TFA. Morever, what TFA has to say about the film and EMP is that it is "capable of minimizing radio interference and even...EMP." They don't say block it, they say minimize it. The effective frequency range of the film is 10 Hz. up to "just shy of visible light" so I'd say they at least have a shot at it.
Now, EMP is what, again? Oh, yeah, Electro-Magnetic Pulse. Put another way, a really, really strong blast of RF interference. Anything that can completely block cell phone and wifi signals will at least somewhat hold back EMP. TFA goes on to say that one of the things that makes the film so effective is that it's part of a completely package. The film is only one component of what you're buying. Sounds like they probably retrofit the building with some kind of Faraday cage-like gear.
EMP doesn't melt plastic, it fry's electronics. Well, if you were so close to the hypocenter that the EMP could melt a 2 mm plastic film on the window, that would be the least of your problems, because if you didn't get vaporized at about the same time, the shockwave that arrived shortly thereafter would blow you, the window, and maybe the wall to the other side of the room.
The EMP they are trying to guard against is the high air burst kind (think huge warhead detonated in LEO over the US east coast) which is intended to take down electrical grids, telephone networks, and as much of everything else electronic as it can. A lot of Soviet (and presumably now Russian) scenarios included such an air burst as an early shot. Get one of those in position undetected and detonate it and you're then in a position to do a couple of things, such as:
If you have your buildings protected to the best possible extent by EMP shielding such as that stuff, it might allow you to launch in such a scenario before the other side does. You'd pretty much have to, because the EMP would fry the recon sats that would normally tell you if they were launching or not. You'd have to assume they were.