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Australian Man Uses Snack Bags As Faraday Cage To Block Tracking By Employer (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A 60-year-old electrician in Perth, Western Australia had his termination upheld by a labor grievance commission when it was determined he had been abusing his position and technical knowledge to squeeze in some recreation during working hours. Tom Colella used mylar snack bags to block GPS tracking via his employer-assigned personal digital assistant to go out to play a round of golf -- more than 140 times -- while he reported he was offsite performing repairs.
In his finding against Colella, Australia Fair Work Commissioner Bernie Riordan wrote: "I have taken into account that Mr Colella openly stored his PDA device in an empty foil 'Twisties' bag. As an experienced electrician, Mr Colella knew that this bag would work as a faraday cage, thereby preventing the PDA from working properly -- especially the provision of regular GPS co-ordinate updates Mr. Colella went out of his way to hide his whereabouts. He was concerned about Aroona tracking him when the Company introduced the PDA into the workplace. He protested about Aroona having this information at that time. Mr Colella then went out of his way to inhibit the functionality of the PDA by placing it in a foil bag to create a faraday cage."
In his finding against Colella, Australia Fair Work Commissioner Bernie Riordan wrote: "I have taken into account that Mr Colella openly stored his PDA device in an empty foil 'Twisties' bag. As an experienced electrician, Mr Colella knew that this bag would work as a faraday cage, thereby preventing the PDA from working properly -- especially the provision of regular GPS co-ordinate updates Mr. Colella went out of his way to hide his whereabouts. He was concerned about Aroona tracking him when the Company introduced the PDA into the workplace. He protested about Aroona having this information at that time. Mr Colella then went out of his way to inhibit the functionality of the PDA by placing it in a foil bag to create a faraday cage."
next~!
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
That's why I wear the hat people... to keep the government from tracking my thoughts.
It looking like a pirate hat is just me expressing my sense of fashion.
I can't call him a hero, but I definitely can't call him a bad guy. If you can play golf all the time and the only way the boss knows is by tracking you, the boss doesn't know much about what proper productivity can do. Follow this by the fact that so much "work" done these days is pointless BS anyway. He's only half a hero though--because his work probably isn't pointless BS if it's maintenance that's not initially noticeable but will later cost clients money or perhaps even lives.
To be a full hero, do your job. If your job is being a boss, consider doing it without being big brother. Then you'd both be good regular guys, who are so scarce these days that they look like full-on heroes.
I have taken into account that Mr Colella openly stored his PDA device in an empty foil 'Twisties' bag. As an experienced electrician, Mr Colella knew that this bag would work as a faraday cage, thereby preventing the PDA from working properly
Or as a Will Smith fan.
Labour grievances? Yes, hello, I was terminated for browsing pornography during work hours.
My defense is that my employer shouldn't have looked at my computer screen to see that I've been doing that.
I want my job back!
With 140 games of golf, surely his productivity must have taken a hit.
It's not all he did nor the only way they substantiated the facts. He claimed to be at work, but never swiped in at the client sites and things like chlorine analysers show they were never serviced even though he claimed they did.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
But the boss can do whatever he wants
Sorry but that is senior managements responsibility, stick to sneaking naps at work like everyone else.
Since when did you have to be "an experienced electrician" to know that Mylar blocks a device's GPS radio?
Maybe Slashdot should have hired an experienced editor to write the summary.
Your phone will try to connect to wifi & cell towers. It will try HARD. It will drain the battery rapidly. At least that's what my phone did when I traveled to a very remote area. It got very hot and drained a full battery in less than two hours. It was an older model, YMMV.
...omphaloskepsis often...
Because most people don't have the sort of of job or visibility that the media would care?
No, this company did what most companies due... fire an employee who is egregiously breaking the rules for cause.
I got hired in his place. Productivity went up 1000% because I don't golf. Thanks for getting your dumb ass fired, now I have an income. Good luck.
Except when the company is really violating employment law, then equity requires recompense.
Look! You can't just go around telling people things they don't want to hear! It doesn't matter how true it is! People are comfortable in their ignorance and don't want you rocking the boat...
But yes, we are all little "trumps", all stealing paperclips. Just another reason he won the election, and will probably win the next one, considering the feeble, non-existent opposition. Hardly a good reflection on the people who vote, is it?
person cheats system, gets caught, pays punishment
Or, rather, he Cheetos the system ...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Wherein an anonymous coward has a conversation with himself...
No, this company did what most companies due... fire an employee who is egregiously breaking the rules for cause.
Right. Calling Cheetos "Twisties"... What's next? Kleenex is just folded shit tickets in a pretty cardboard dispenser?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Blue ruin, what a bloomin' bludger!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Finding the article lacking, I did a little more digging and found some reviews of Twisties.
... said tinfoil hat wearers everywhere.
You can't have a Faraday cage without grounding it. While this foil wrapper did work, it's only because GPS signals are very, very weak.
What you did there, I saw it.
I tend to rant.
He worked so hard at not working.
Table-ized A.I.
Humans are cattle.
Where's your transponder?
Poster is unaware of the existence of a larger world outside of the United States. Everyone else please take care to only discuss the outside world elsewhere lest poster is be shocked by the sudden revelation.
Strap that GPS-Tracking PDA to your dog at home. Works every time.
He was fully forthcoming to his managers when he said he was going out faraday.
Poster is unaware of the existence of a larger world outside of the United States.
Though we sometimes may appear larger than life, in both our accomplishments and our embarrassments, fewer of us believe we're actually a planet than are members of the Flat Earth Society... although to be fair, any membership in those particular clubs is a bit of a black eye.
Everyone else please take care to only discuss the outside world elsewhere lest poster is be shocked by the sudden revelation.
Neither irony nor sarcasm is clever argument.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Not in Australia, they can't.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
https://vimeo.com/70051022
I don't get it. Why didn't he just use Airplane mode? What would really be news is if someone goes a few months on Airplane mode and gets convicted of doing crimes because they were the only one in the area without their human tracking device functioning!
Using a chip bag as a faraday cage to block your employer's tracking device from communicating with satellites in order to goof off isn't interesting to you?
Turn in your nerd badge immediately. And don't try to snack-bag your way out of this one.
Seriously, what the fuck? Are slashdotters so miserable that we're more interested in cheering someone getting punished than an amusing hack?
Seriously, what the fuck? Are slashdotters so miserable that we're more interested in cheering someone getting punished than an amusing hack?
Posting AC to avoid burning modded posts.
Yes, altogether too many Slashdotters er bitter-ass gits. Where we were once home to technologists, we are mostly just pissed off trolls now who worship 1950.
Wouldn't that have been easier?
So I see they spent a bunch of time and effort looking at records for PDA and security gates and cell towers etc.
But it seems like the pattern wasn't too hard to predict.
Why not just catch him at the golf course the next time?
Conservatives aren't snowflakes
You're right. Snowflakes are unique - parroting does not make your perspective either unique or interesting.
Grandpa basically "McGivers" a device, and gets fired? And does anyone think Security businesses haven't stopped eating their soup and are steering?
Because it's Australia. Unconditional sacking isn't legal here.
Speak for yourself. Self respect, integrity and honour still means something to many people.
Lick those boots!
He can always plead that he thought it was supposed to be in that mode to work properly. Toggles seem to be notoriously hard to design so as not to create confusion as to which state it is in.
HERETIC!
Http://eyesaheadsafety.com, handily located in Australia...
...that the main reason he was found out was that his boss saw him playing golf because he himself was playing golf during work hours...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Twisties are orders of magnitude better than Cheetos.
Source: have eaten both.
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
First issue is tracking employees without individual consent. Here I find it perfectly okay to use anti-tracking means.
Second issue is the employee playing golf 140 times on company time. That is not okay.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
You know, even though I'm a true AC, I think I'm going to start off all my posts with "Posting AC because I modded".
Posted AC because I've modded in on this story.
This is about as true as it gets. This site used to be a very educated place where people would post actual informative concepts and ideas. It used to be fun. Recently I've been modded down for literally mentioning that the FCC's job is to regulate communications. I don't even know why I would have to tell someone that or why I would lose points for mentioning it.. but there you go.
once more into the breach
Poster is unaware of the existence of a larger world outside of the United States. Everyone else please take care to only discuss the outside world elsewhere lest poster is be shocked by the sudden revelation.
If you're using Kleenex to wipe your ass then you're doing it wrong.
/. isn't hip enough to attract younger crowd, and existing readership is getting older. People get curmudgeonly with age, and this is precisely what is happening here.
Now get off my lawn!
No, this company did what most companies due... fire an employee who is egregiously breaking the rules for cause.
Right. Calling Cheetos "Twisties"... What's next? Kleenex is just folded shit tickets in a pretty cardboard dispenser?
Having had both Cheetos and Twisties (Cheetos are also available in Australia) they are completely different types of snacks. Different density, texture, flavour the lot.
Secondly, "Kleenex" is a name of a brand of tissues, not toilet paper. People outisde of the US rarely use generic brand names, a "Kleenex" is a tissue, when you need to blow your nose, you use a tissue because there are many different brands and we speak English out here.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I worship 1951, you insensitive clod!
It was more interesting when I saw Gene Hackman do it nearly 20 years ago.
A lot of over thinking here. The guy is a thief, he stole from his employer and being fired is the correct result. He should have to pay restitution. Yes the Mylar bag is a slightly whimsical hack that probably many didn't know, but really who cares. Tracking people is demeaning but it's people like this that force employers to do this.
I once had an ATT service person claim to come to my house, though they didn't claim to come during the schedule time, didn't leave an "I was here note", and didn't show at all because I was there all day. I was livid when I talked with ATT and I hope that person with fired, because they wasted my whole day.
I also work with several employees that don't do their jobs. Since I am the chief engineer this introduces an unnecessary level of stress into my life, it also makes the good employees life more difficult and potentially puts the project and their jobs at risk. It also causes management to treat employees worse overall.
I have only disgust for these people's actions, they hurt other people, and make the world a less trusting place.
I for one enjoyed reading the summary. I kept thinking to myself was it the same bag over and over or was he really piling the crumbs on this device? Did he simply leave the device in the bag 24/7... or did he just put it in there whenever he wanted time off. I guess I'm off to read the article.
If people detect your post as an argument going against the groupthink, it now gets modded troll/flamebait regardless of being factually accurate and logically consistent. Good debate used to get modded up even in disagreement; not anymore. And if you think it's bad here you should see what the moderation is like on ArsTechnica these days.
No it wasn't, that movie was shit.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
The projection is strong with this one.
after reading the pdf, OPs remarks seem slanderous. played golf more than 140 times=false.
Pence will pardon Trump, and Trump will be back 2020. Assuming the Senate has the balls to impeach Trump before his term is up.
I actually RTFA and the judgement by the arbiter too.
Yes, it was mildly interesting, but TFS made it sound more like a termination rant rather than a clever hack.
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
Yeah, well, too bad none of them vote.
Oh! So sorry, did my PDA fall into my bag of chips again?
Just saying ... if my employer wanted to track me in a similar way I'd go work for someone else.
we are mostly just pissed off trolls now who worship 1950.
So, Republicans?
Yes it was, but still more interesting than this. This guy didn't even fondle Will Smith in an elevator.
Software settings do not have to be honored.
HUUUUURRRRR!!!! RUSSSSSIIIIAAAAAN BOOOOOOOOOOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DERPADERPADERP!
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
lameness filter is lame.
I think lots of places use brand names generically.
Hoover?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks
Oh well if captain obvious says so, then it must be true.
Where did you study TV diagnonsense again?
Get rekt ya poofta. Twisties are the shit! Can you get chicken-flavoured Cheetos?
But it sounds like his work was non-BS maintenance, that he wasn't actually doing. He was slacking off instead of working while telling his employer he was doing the work.
Next thing you know you're working at Equifax and instead of installing security updates, you went golfing.
Right, but still, the idiocy is policy based an assumption of papal infallability, or in this case, the fallability of some dude.
First issue is tracking employees without individual consent.
Hashtag: I used to be a libertarian, then I saw what the market led to. Hardcore libertarians are basically ok with endentured (bankruptcy law?) servitude quasi-slavery.
Have enough money- buy yourself a quasi-slave with tracking device unable to be removed or disabled by the trackee. Not the kind of society I would tolerate living in.
Chicken flavored??? I need this in my life.
Don't tell employer how you store your tracking device.
"There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and
i give the guy A+ for creativity ... i'd let him off with a warning ... but just once ... creative minds are hard to find
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
There's a little Trump in all of us, but he's inside of you even moreso if you have a pussy.
There are many things that taste like chicken. "Chicken" Twisties aren't one of them.