[117298] in Cypherpunks
Re: Project: Hardening Crypto Against Big Brother
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Roach)
Tue Aug 31 00:10:52 1999
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990830224553.007e9480@mail.intplsrv.net>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 22:45:53 -0500
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
From: Sean Roach <roach_s@mail.intplsrv.net>
In-Reply-To: <19990831005816.SOLZ15925@alaptop.hotwired.com>
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Reply-To: Sean Roach <roach_s@mail.intplsrv.net>
At 08:55 PM 8/30/99 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>
>Perhaps useless ancedote: I just carried some waterford crystal goblets
>back from Ireland through n-number of airport security checkpoints. They
>seemed pretty darn opaque on the xray screens.
>
>So just buy a lot of crystal and surround yerself...
>
>-Declan
>
>
>At 16:06 8/30/1999 -0400, Sunder wrote:
>>Hmmm, does it also help tempest shielding? If so where does one obtain
leaded
>>crystal glass, say suitable for a 14" LCD monitor again? :)
>>
>>David Honig wrote:
>>>
>>> At 10:25 PM 8/27/99 -0500, I wrote:
>>>>Interesting story about this. My grandmother was detained for
>>>>carrying lead crystal into the United States. Seems that both
>>>>leaded glass, at least the good stuff, and plastic explosives
>>>>both show up as a cloudy area on an x-ray. They are trained to
>>>>recognize pieces and hints,
>>>
>>> No; they simply can't see what's inside leaded crystal.
Keep in mind that something opaque to one part of the EM spectrum can be
quite transparent to another. Visible light is around 400 to 700
nanometers. X-rays are considerably higher than that, and radio waves are
quite a bit lower. You would probably be better off making one of those
tacky glare screens out of fine wire to block radio. But, as far as I
know, LCD screens aren't as subsceptible to EM reception as standard CRT's.
You would probably be better off getting a rigidized laptop case made out
of aluminum or lined with copper. I don't know if either are commonly
available, but I don't think you really need to worry about your screen
radiating as much as your bus.
You want a test? Drop a transistor radio inside your largest lead-crystal
vase, or the one owned by whoever you know who has such a thing, and see if
you can still hear it on a local station. If you can, it's not blocking
radio and you wouldn't want it anyway.
By the way, you might try a glass store. My grandfather, same side, used
to do stained glass work and bought his glass at such a place.
Sean Roach
