Wireless Network Modded To See Through Walls
KentuckyFC writes "The way radio signals vary in a wireless network can reveal the movement of people behind closed doors, say researchers who have developed a technique called variance-based radio tomographic imaging which processes wireless signals to peer through walls. They've tested the idea with a 34-node wireless network using the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol (the personal area network protocol employed by home automation services such as ZigBee). The researchers say that such a network could be easily distributed by the police or military wanting to determine what's going on inside a building. But such a network, which uses cheap off-the-shelf components, might also be easily deployed by your neighbor or anybody else wanting to monitor movements in your home."
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh said that the U.S. military had developed a secret new technology for use in urban warfare. He said the technology was revolutionary, equivalent to the first time tanks were deployed on the battlefield. From what I remember, there was speculation that Hersh had learned that the military could now see through walls.