Yes, aluminum foil has its uses:
The legal debate over whether police need a warrant to search a suspect’s cellphone is more than just raging on — it’s headed to the Supreme Court. But even if the nation’s highest court decides a warrant is needed, the authorities could still block you from remote-wiping your phone while they wait for the legal OK to search. And all it takes is the aluminum foil in your kitchen.
Yes, law Professor Adam Gershowitz recommends that, in cases where police have seized a phone but aren’t yet allowed (legally) to search it, they should wrap the phone in multiple layers of aluminum foil to block remote bricking or wiping. The foil would create an improvised Faraday cage, blocking all wireless signals until a warrant is obtained. Naturally, the paper also recommends commercially available Faraday bags or data extraction software, but the improvised aluminum foil method seems much more likely to be used by cops on patrol.
Intrigued, I tore off a sheet of foil, wrapped my phone into it, and then called the phone repeatedly using a landline two feet away. It would not ring or buzz at all, but went directly into voicemail.
A low tech method to gain a bit of privacy in an era when police, spooks, and government agencies (even in flamingly liberal areas) routinely use stingray technology, and most mobile devices don’t even allow the battery to be removed.
Which means that there is no need to spend money on special stingray-blocking devices like these.
Comments
7 responses to “Foiled!”
How far was your mobile phone from the cell tower when you did the experiment?
The inside of a microwave oven (unplugged) is fantastically well shielded from ambient RF. Anything that can keep kilowatts of microwaves inside also keeps everything else out. Probably something like 70, 80 dB or more.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ied+cell+phone&view=detailv2&&id=29394163D0E012D289834A09873BFAB2074FA546&selectedIndex=0&ccid=m0akf5eK&simid=607991624348010862&thid=OIP.M9b46a47f978a844496ac313e11905cb2o0&ajaxhist=0
Phones will need an easily accessed self destruct mode, maybe activated by total loss of connectivity. Wrap it in foil, put it in a Faraday cage, instant slag.
Or, don’t store incriminating stuff on your phone.
Store gigabytes of encrypted files which all read “cops suck”.
Store gigabytes of encrypted files which all read “cops suck”.
Heh – I like that – even if it’s not true in all cases, it’s likely true of those who would access the files.
For What It’s Worth…