• archonet@lemy.lol
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    2 days ago

    what if you had something like that running in a bag or backpack at a protest, with hundreds or even thousands of people around you? How about if you had three or four people with them coordinating, switching them on and off at certain times as they move through the crowd?

    • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It is at this point trivially easy to locate strong signals in crowds - iirc the Olympics was one of the pioneers of the technology to prevent illegal broadcasts, and the equipment is fairly cheap and very easily accessible for any interested party that wants it. Foxhunter fourms even have many, many plans to build your own versions of the hardware if you want.

      And that’s setting aside that the strength of a portable jammer is very limited, military radios like the US police use have pretty neat anti-jamming features (hardened FHSS is brutal, just look at Ukraine/russian signal warfare for how hard it is to mitigate) and you’d be absolutely screwing over any coordination attempts by other protesters using cell or radio by trying this.

      You’ll get caught, and you’ll do a great deal more harm than good if you use these in a protest. Outside that context they could be useful, but by turning one on you gotta remember you’re ensuring that you can’t get any help, either.

      • archonet@lemy.lol
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        2 days ago

        well, it was worth asking. Anything to hamper the brownshirts and their support network, you know. Thanks.

    • chocrates@piefed.world
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      2 days ago

      You’re carrying a big felony around if you get caught. Just decide if and when it’s worth it.

      Plus, since jammers are illegal for civilians, you will have to build it yourself.

      • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        FWIW you can get decently powerful (but narrow frequency, most just affect cell bands or 802.11) jammers off Aliexpress for like $300. Thats where the cartels get theirs, at least. The FCC will find you the minute you turn one on though, and holy shit they don’t fuck around, so I really don’t recommend trying it.

        • Billegh@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Yeah, the issue with jammers is that ones targeted at specific frequencies are pretty easy to prosecute. You will have a tough time proving it wasn’t deliberate interference.

          The spread spectrum ones that look like really loud noise across many frequencies are easier to get away with but far less effective with even shorter effective ranges.

    • einfach_orangensaft@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      they probably kick down your door pre demonstration because buying the equipment with that power and bandwidth for this to work is already raising red flags

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        secondhand microwave has entered the chat

        A word of caution… Fucking around with microwave parts can and will probably kill you if you don’t know for sure what you are doing.