• orioler25@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    2 months ago

    Louis Rossman talked about this potential in consumer routers via ISP data collection a few months ago. I mean, there are feasible measures to disrupt the accuracy of this surveillance method in the same way there is for any. But, even if the new standard implements protections against use cases of human surveillance, there’s no real way to prevent authoritarian states from applying the technology illegally or otherwise. Doesn’t help that corporations with a vested interest in both data collection and compliance with authoritarian states also have tremendous influence on the kind of people who are in the IEEE.

    I’m tellin ya, people have to bully STEM majors who cooperate like they should ICE agents who (enthusiastically) cooperate.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yeah we really need to socially shun people willing to work for these companies. If you tell me you work for flock or amazon or google or meta you will just get an “eww” from me.

      • Telorand@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 months ago

        I knew someone who voluntarily went to work for Facebook a few years ago. I don’t talk to them anymore. Last I heard from a mutual is that they got laid off, and it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving schmuck.

      • orioler25@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Yeah I’ve had interactions like that as well. Another issue is a lot of this work is done through contracts with third-party developers too. I’ve met people who could say the name of the company they work for and you’d have to dig to find out they develop software for US military tank systems, so it is also easy for them to obscure their work if they understand people will challenge their participation in it.

        • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          I made the same mistake (of not realizing) a few years ago. But when i found out i quit as soon as i got some certification that got me started elsewhere.

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        As someone who lives in Silicon Valley (and is currently pursuing an EE degree), you either work for those companies, the military-industrial complex, or a startup about to be acquired by the tech giants, otherwise you are left behind economically and are unable to own a home or live without debt acquisition.

        I’m still in college, I really don’t like the idea of working for these places, but it may not be much of a choice once I graduate. At least if I want to live where I grew up and make full use of my engineering degree.

        • over_clox@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          We don’t need you. Hell, you don’t even need yourself.

          You’re literally working towards a future where machines replace humans.

          Thanks for your help fucking up the cause of humans being humans.

        • moonshadow@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Hey, buddy? Fuck you and your economic goals. There is a very real choice here between being part of the problem and part of the solution. I can’t make it for you, but would really like to disabuse you of the notion there’s “not much of a choice”. Build a comfortable life at the rest of the world’s expense, sacrifice your opportunities for our collective wellbeing, self-immolate in protest, whatever you choose it’s an impactful decision and you’re the one making it. Good luck! Have fun! You matter, and selling the rest of us out is a dick move.

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago
    • Its scary this technology even exists at all.
    • Its scarier to think they’ve been developing and testing this already.
    • What’s even scarier, is realizing they probably already have recorded WiFi/XRay (whatever you wanna call it) porno videos as part of their tests…
    • CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      2 months ago

      I was told that when you see a technology become public, you should assume the US government has been using it for at least a decade, which is also scary.

  • abbiistabbii@piefed.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    2 months ago

    You mean it’s not? Like the reason why Supermarkets have free wifi is to basically track customers to see where they go in the shop.

    • 4am@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 months ago

      New routers are coming out that can watch and track humans and other figures based on the reflection of the waves coming back to them.

      Like a fine detailed radar of the inside of your house.

    • AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      From reading the article, not to my understanding. This technology uses the way radio waves, in this case wifi, are bouncing around a space in order to build a picture of the people in it. These clothes just block the signals from devices underneath them. As far as I know, the shape of the garment (and therefore you) would still look the same, and then whatever recognition, gait analysis, etc would still work.

      • CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.worldOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        From the readme, it looks like chase your tail has a different focus than the article, which is focused on how your physical body perturbs the wifi signal, rather than probes against the wifi on your device.

  • vane@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    2 months ago

    Wait until people discover how light bulbs are Mass Surveillance System

  • rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    Soooo, you can make a device that records radio waves like a camera records light, sort of. So having these devices out in public is basically the same as having surveillance cameras. With slightly different features of course.

    So, how is this any different to having CCTV? Or not being allowed to have CCTV? Whichever applies to your country/area.

  • AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    Maybe some utility in a broadcast device of some sort that puts out a “cloud” of white noise in the wifi bandwidth. It’ll stick out like a sore thumb that the detection is being tampered with, and will probably disrupt wifi in an area, but providing too much data for the system is probably a better call than trying to hide yourself from it.

    There’s just no feasible way right now to stop the way that radio waves interact with your body, other than not being in that location.