

New speech-jamming gun hints at dystopian Big Brother future - SkippyZA
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/120583-new-speech-jamming-gun-hints-at-dystopian-big-brother-future

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JumpCrisscross
> _if you’re a firm believer in free speech, you should now be experiencing a
> deafening cacophony of alarm bells_

This article is sensationalist. If a directional mic/speaker is a "speech
jamming gun" then a loud speaker is a "free speech area jammer". And you
really don't need the mic - just blast Justin Bieber at a conversation and
nobody will be able to hear anything intelligible anyway...

If you had a "totalitarian government" that wanted to jam you from thinking
there are simpler ways to continuously annoy or distract you. Maybe if Stalin
were bored and wanted to f#@* with people for the lulz.

~~~
whateverer
No, but a western democracy could make up some pretext to silence protests
under the guise of, say, bringing peace to the lives of all the people who
don't give a shit, so that they don't fall so much in the polls.

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jakeonthemove
This is actually useful tech - I've been in many situations where other people
talk louder and longer than me (I have a quiet voice and don't interrupt
others when they say something - I'm always perplexed when others do it) and
instead of escalating and turning a debate into a shouting contest, one could
use these devices (though I don't see that actually happening since it would
make a lot of people angry).

As for free speech - it's not really a danger - if you're having a protest,
the last thing you wanna do is shut people up - they're going to start
destroying your equipment and it will quickly turn into a full-fledged riot...

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furyg3
It's not a speech-jamming gun at all.

It's a speaker which plays back your speech to you.

It could be easily circumvented with $.10 earplugs...

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
Even the best earplugs only muffle sound to a certain degree. Sound,
especially loud sounds, is transmitted very well through the bones in your
head.

~~~
Anechoic
Bone conduction only works well for lower frequencies, unless a transducer or
vibrating object is directly coupled to your body. Earplugs would work just
fine in this application.

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
I've yet to find a pair of earplugs that block conversations in my office
enough to let me concentrate, I seriously doubt that they'd be good for a
concentrated blast of sound.

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andrewgodwin
From what I understand of the technology at play here, it seems like it could
be defeated by a pair of earplugs (or, if you're in a conversation rather than
a speech, then a microphone/headphone combination with an additional short
delay) - though I'm by no means qualified in this area!

Still, even if there is a workaround, it seems impractical to wear all the
time.

~~~
twp
Just put your fingers in your ears when you want to speak, or wear noise-
canceling headphones.

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manifold
I often speak with a colleague by phone and for whatever reason our connection
creates this effect. It's very disorienting at first, but you can get used to
ignoring it quite quickly.

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lps41
I don't understand how the author of this article thinks this could be applied
to an audience or protestors.

For this to work, the audio output to each individual person has to be exactly
what each individual person is currently saying. If it's a combined audio mess
of an entire audience's voices, it's not exactly going to screw up anyone's
speech patterns.

So the only way this could work in an audience would be if the back of every
chair in front of people had one of these devices on it which could filter out
the noise of everyone else around that person and only output _their_ voice.

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ErrantX
_In short, imagine if a runaway mega-corporation or government gains control
of these earbuds. Not only could the intelligence-destroying blasts from
Harrison Bergeron come to pass, but with Delayed Auditory Feedback it would be
possible to render the entire population mute._

Is it just me who thought; well if a runaway mega-corporation does come to
exist, in a position to force society to wear such earbuds (or whatever)... I
doubt the existence, or not, of "speech-jamming guns" will affect matters.

They haven't even thought through the sensationalism!

~~~
bproper
Yeah - this seems like a sci-fi rant.

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NnamdiJr
The title of the article got me quite frightened for a moment, until I read on
and realized the "gun" is more-or-less an audio playback speaker with minor
delay.

Early Skype users who made calls to people using their speakers instead of
headsets/headphones know how this feels.. disorienting yes, but easily ignored
after you get used to it.

I never imagined the effect could be implemented as a directed energy weapon.
Just makes me think it would be that much easier to re-make as a DIY project,
smaller and cheaper..

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BasDirks
The invention itself is not too scary, but the commentary of the researchers
is. Perhaps we should silence people like them who put forth such dangerous
ideas.

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crewtide
While the title made me wonder if this was a spoof article, I'm surprised that
no one here finds the article chilling. Forget the politicians, the intended
use is for modifying people's behaviour. From friends' anecdotes (both
Japanese friends and those who spent many years in Japan), there is strong
pressure to conform in Japanese schools. Imagine this scenario:

Speech jammers are introduced into Japanese schools. From the article: “We
have to establish and obey rules for proper turn-taking when speaking." Sounds
like a school to me. This type of technology used on kids could have long-term
impact on their ability to think during public conversations. And once the
teacher realizes they can silence any student at will, do you think they'll
stop at the "louder, stronger" voices? Any student with an opinion the teacher
doesn't like could get zapped. And the worst part is not that other students
won't hear their ideas -- it's that the student herself will have those
thoughts disrupted.

Entrepreneurs are who we are because we think outside the box -- we do things
we're told can't be done. Most people aren't like that. And imagine if every
time you talked about anything "out of the norm" as a child your very thoughts
were stopped. Chilling.

I guess if Japanese authorities want that kind of conformity, it might help
the US economy...but I'm still not a fan.

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Anechoic
This isn't a new idea, it's just a "portable" version of the anti-vulgar-
speech system you see at many sporting stadiums that play back delayed
recordings of crowd noise when vulgar chants (i.e. "bullshit! bullshit!" after
a bad call) start.

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Banekin
I made a simple Pure Data patch (adc > delay > dac) that simulates this
effect, and I can confirm that it works well.

~~~
rwmj
I have a VoIP phone that performs this function for free. It's very annoying
...

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regularfry
It's easy to counter-jam, if you're expecting it. Noise-cancelling headphones
with a 200ms buffer delay should do it.

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darxius
Does anyone know of any proof of concept video out there? I would love to see
this in action.

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NnamdiJr
Here you go: "SpeechJammer (en)" <http://youtu.be/USDI3wnTZZg>

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rickyconnolly
I too own a gun that can prevent people from speaking out of turn. It is made
by Smith and Wesson

