
Play along with NSA: The RAFTER unintentional radio emissions how-to - wolframio
http://phasenoise.livejournal.com/4919.html
======
madengr
Then again, direct sampling SDR don't have an LO to leak, but do have a stable
clock. There are some power supplies and digital systems with spread spectrum
clocks. No reason one could not use a spread spectrum ADC clock, heavily over
sampled of course, then average the samples where needed. There are some ADC
they randomize the data bus for EMC.

Do they still have vans in the UK that driving around looking for un-taxed TV?

~~~
dogma1138
>Do they still have vans in the UK that driving around looking for un-taxed
TV?

Yes, well sorta if you say you don't own a TV you'll get an inspection
sometime within a period of 1-2 years. The problem in the UK now is that if
you have anything with the BBC player on it you have to pay the TV license
also. IIRC they also changed the rules regarding TV and now every screen above
a certain size is considered a TV because a lot of people were buying flat
screens that don't have a tuner installed or removing the tuner to not have to
pay the license. For anyone who wonders the cost of the license is 145£ a year
that's more than some low cost TV's would go on sales like Boxing Day.

~~~
kelnage
You're wrong about when you have to pay the TV license. Currently the law
states that you have to pay if you watch any streamed live TV (regardless of
whether it is from the BBC, Sky or another TV provider). Having equipment
capable of watching live TV does not automatically incur the license fee.

The law is changing in September, such that you will also be required to pay
it if you use iPlayer - however, just having a system that can use iPlayer
does not mean you have to pay it - it will be payable only if you use it to
watch either live or catch-up TV on iPlayer (other catch-up applications such
as ITV's or Channel 5's are not included in this). For some reason, the BBC
has decided that either adding a login system or monitoring IP addresses that
connect to iPlayer is not the way to go and their official line is that they
will continue to monitor usage in the same way as they currently do.

There are many long arguments about whether the TV license vans even exist or
if they use radio emissions from devices to monitor what you're watching -
some contend that flat screen TVs do not produce sufficient emissions, but
there is research that says otherwise.

~~~
Someone1234
> For some reason, the BBC has decided that either adding a login system or
> monitoring IP addresses that connect to iPlayer is not the way to go and
> their official line is that they will continue to monitor usage in the same
> way as they currently do.

Because it is completely impractical.

TV licenses are per property, not per person, so all that would happen is that
people would register accounts at a friend's property and keep streaming.

IPs aren't tied to specific subscribers, and giving out a database of IPs to
subscriber addresses would be a huge breach of privacy (as advertisers can use
it also).

Plus, frankly, the majority of people pay for their TV licenses and this
system would just frustrate legal owners. You'd be deploying a system that may
impact less than 5% of viewers, doubt it would even pay for itself.

~~~
JupiterMoon
Has the snoopers charter gone through yet? Once ISPs are forced to store usage
logs it is only a matter of time before TV licensing start attempting to get
hold of logs for enforcement purposes.

------
demouser7
It is a very interesting topic because almost all electronics devices have
similar emissions , see
[http://www.cvel.clemson.edu/pdf/ED_Detection_2008.pdf](http://www.cvel.clemson.edu/pdf/ED_Detection_2008.pdf)

Someday thieves will use these techniques to locate who in a dark alley has
the latest iPhone.

~~~
20yrs_no_equity
Fortunately, someday sooner, iPhones will become effectively useless to
thieves.

As a victim of an iPhone theft - it was literally ripped out of my hand on a
very public boulevard - I was grateful to be able to remotely wipe it within
hours. I am even more grateful now that it will require a passcode within 12
hours if it doesn't get a touchID, and I really look forward to the day that
"wipe and make unable to be re-authorized except by taking it to an Apple
store, and also mark this phone as stolen" will be built in to "find my
iPhone".

Since the phone hardware will only run software signed by Apple's private key,
Apple can make a stolen phone effectively unusable. You need to have a key to
put it in recovery mode, and even with signed software the hardware ID won't
change, so the only signed code could be code that will check the hardware
during the authorization process (I think this is already happening for anti-
counterfeiting purposes.)

------
PhantomGremlin
This cat-and-mouse game has been going on for a long time, even outside of
spycraft.

E.g. radar detectors are illegal in several states, so of course there have
been devices sold to law enforcement to allow them to detect these illegal
radar detectors.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector)

That's all probably moot now. I think law enforcement has moved mostly to
using lasers, which are much more difficult to detect.

~~~
codethief
> This form of "electronic warfare" cuts both ways and since detector-
> detectors use a similar superheterodyne receiver, many early "stealth" radar
> detectors were equipped with a radar-detector-detector-detector circuit,
> which shuts down the main radar receiver when the detector-detector's signal
> is detected, thus preventing detection by such equipment.

TIL there exist radar detector detector detectors.

------
anc84
That Spycatcher book sounds interesting but looks intimidating. Can someone
comment on its style and for-leisure readability?

~~~
nabla9
It's interesting book and easy to read.

Wright clearly had chip on his shoulder and it shows, but all facts in the
book seem to be correct.

It became bestseller trough Streisand effect. UK tried to ban it's publication
in Australia and it was forbidden in England. British newspapers were given
gag orders.

~~~
beezle
As I recall he was a bit of a conspiracy type as well with his 5th man theory,
very Angleton. So yes the book is interesting but bear in mind the agenda as
well

~~~
nabla9
Right or wrong, his suspicion of Hollis was not crazy.

Was Roger Hollis a British patriot or Soviet spy? IWP panel uses argument
mapping to investigate April 21, 2015
[http://www.iwp.edu/news_publications/detail/was-roger-
hollis...](http://www.iwp.edu/news_publications/detail/was-roger-hollis-a-
british-patriot-or-soviet-spy)

[http://www.iwp.edu/docLib/20150417_ReportandChronologyHollis...](http://www.iwp.edu/docLib/20150417_ReportandChronologyHollis.pdf)

