Posted on 10/02/2009 11:28:48 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Don't like the idea of your neighbors rudely snooping on the wireless signal you slaved to pay for from the lazy comfort of their living room? It's not just about slowing down your connection; while they're downloading Mad Men via bittorrent, you could be on the hook for their actions.
Wireless security and encryption systems are fraught with problems and insecurity, and other methods to restrict your signal to a small area are cumbersome at best.
Enter a new solution: Anti-Wi-Fi paint.
The idea is simple: Use a special paint on walls where you don't want wireless to pass through (say the exterior of your house). The secret is mixing aluminum-iron oxide particles in with the paint. The metal particles resonate at the same frequency as Wi-Fi and other radio waves, so signals can't pass through the thin layer of pigment. Outsiders would simply be unable to access your wireless network, just as you, inside the house, won't be able to interlope on anything beamed on the outside.
Developed by the University of Tokyo, the paint is said to be the first that can block radio frequency in higher spectra where Wi-Fi and other higher-bandwidth communications occur rather than just low-frequency wireless like FM radio. Most Wi-Fi technologies operate at 2.4GHz; the Tokyo paint can reportedly block frequencies all the way up to 100GHz, with a 200GHz-blocking paint now in the works.
The paint isn't just of interest to those concerned about wireless leaking out of the building. Movie theaters have long been interested in finding a legal way to keep cell phones silent during screenings. .
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.yahoo.com ...
That’s interesting.
Don’t forget to paint the roof. This prevents the black helicopters from reading your thoughts and makes those hot days much more tolerable without the normal cranial tinfoil guard.
Are you going to paint your windows with it also ? There is always going to a point where the signal will leak out.
Isn’t there a legal benefit from having the sign accessible by others? Didn’t certain people win legal cases because the plaintiffs couldn’t prove who was using the signals?
So paying for and applying special paint all over your house is preferable to figuring out how to apply a security key and the option not to announce your networks presence?
This sounds very unlikely to work in the real world. Windows, trim, the roof, etc can’t all be painted over seamlessly. Any slots, openings etc will leak all over. Even the wiring in your home is an antenna to couple the signals outside your home.
Encryption does work. But you have to use it and use it properly.
Now paint that absorbs 2.4 GHz effectively (especially if it can cover a much broader frequency range) has lots of other uses. Current conductive shield paint is expensive.
And, wouldn’t the paint block incoming and outgoing signals as well? Such an arrangement is often referred to as a “Farraday Cage” and the object of the arrangement is to provide an isolated area for sensitive RF measurements. I seriously doubt that this would prove to be of any use in the Wi-Fi world. Save your money and don’t buy the paint.
Um, three simple words:
CAT-6 ethernet cable.
What’s so important about wireless?
Udeal conditions (clear line of sight and directional antenna) about five miles.
Save yourself the hassle and use WPA/PSK?
The article reads as if someone using your wireless connection is unavoidable.
Think about the wireless bugs planted by big brother that would no longer function. Think that the feddies might want this outlawed because it might interfere with them spying on us...
Git yourself a double wide...solves all your problems.
Aluminum foil works great!
Uhhhh, ever heard of encrypted WPA passwords that run around 32 multi characters?
Pretty sure you can lock things down.
I’ll be sure to get right on the painting thing. Those pesky neighbors.
Turn on 64/128 bit security, turn off SSID broadcast, and make your router/modem only talk to specific MAC addresses.
Hell of a lot cheaper than paint...
Your cell phone is not going to work inside the house.
“There is always going to a point where the signal will leak out.”
But if there is a leak, obama’s attorney general will find it. /s
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