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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."
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.
Working
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
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.
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. . . .
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.
He was fully forthcoming to his managers when he said he was going out faraday.