Pshaw, they have technology that can read the signal going to you computer screen. They have technology that can read the data sent to your HDTV screen too
Any electrical signal emits a RF field, that's why TV's have to be FCC type accepted. The signal that gets sent to the screen emits this RF field and can be picked up with the latest technology. They can tell what DVD you are playing.
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I know, right? They do the same to all your household appliances, don'cha know. There's even a little scanner in your toaster that tells the Government whether you're heating up good, honest non-Reptilian white bread, or one of those suspicious foreign products like English muffins* or bagels or, God forbid, sourdough. They call it "diversity" when they push all those different bread options on you, but really they're just preparing your precious bodily fluids and softening up your delectable brain-meats for their extraterrestrial lizard overlords and the even more complex carbohydrates they bring...from space!
*They're not even real muffins! Where're the poppyseeds? Where's the paper that goes around the outside? Riddle me that .
I'm not sure this counts as a conspiracy theory when it's actually possible. Except for the "latest technology" bit. To read a CRT screen from several hundred metres cost $15 of off-the-shelf components 20 years ago. To read an LCD or plasma screen cost $2000 five years ago.
The BBC's licensing teams used this in the field for a while, to prove that people were actually watching broadcast TV rather than videos. I can't think of any other reason anyone in the West would want to use this on a wide scale, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking
"They have technology that can read the data sent to your HDTV screen too"
So do I - it's called a TV arial.
And wintermute - there's some debate over whethe ror not those vans and such technology even exist, as noone, even people who claim to have worked for the TV liscensing, has ever seen one. The use of such equipment would be illegal anyway without special permission from the courts., the same proceedures security services have to go through in order to spy on suspected terorists.
Why bother with the monitors? Much easier to read off the hard drive.
Borowiak is a n00b and a silly one, at that.
This is actually true. Unshielded wires can and do emit (to a very limited range, admittedly) a certain amount of EM radiation. The technology does exist to pick up the modulation of such emissions, and reassemble them into a (blurry - after all, how many wires are there in your office, emitting similar radiation?) image of what's going on on your screen. Similarly, its technically possible to tell what keystrokes you enter from your keyboard wire (less) signals. Again, only over a very short range, though.
I don't think this would be deployed for everyone, everywhere, though. There's no point at all and as I said it only works over very limited distances. However, if you were under investigation for hosting a massive child porn ring or terrorist cell, you might want to look at building a big Faraday cage around your office (yes, I did just recommend giving your computer a tinfoil hat).
Actually, he's correct. All electronic devices do emit some sort of RF (Radio Frequency) energy, but most are shielded because of FCC regulations. You could possibly build an electronic device that could read what your computer screen or TV is displaying, however you'd have to get fairly close to read it.
Now why "they" would want to know what DVD you're watching is beyond me. I'm sure it would drive them crazy if your 3-year-old was watching Finding Nemo for the 127th time.
No.
Just... no.
Electronics generate an EMF field, yes, which is quite distinct from an RF field, and it canNOT be used to "intercept" information on what you're viewing.
Let me see... our dvd player connects via HDMI. HDMI cables are shielded like mad, plus they send a encrypted signal (IIRC)
Try picking anything up from that which makes sense!
Why would they bother ? They could ring me and I'd tell them what DVD I was watching.
Just In case 'They' are reading, It's a BBC documentary about Whales
Well in that case, I certainly hope 'they' are enjoying the porn as much as I am.
Just kidding. On a more serious note: as everyone else has said the range is VERY limited. They'd practically have to get in the same room as your TV/Monitor to get anything recognizable, so they may as well just go through your stuff. If they cared that is.
Am I the only person that sees that this Raymond guy was being a sarcastic smartass, and was just fucking with the already-paranoid questioner? I do this with my "slower" friends all the time. To this day, a female friend of mine only watches TV fully clothed after I convinced her that "shiny plastic thingie" (the remote sensor) on her TV was actually a tiny camera transmitting 24 hours a day to the FCC, and that attempting to cover or disable it is punishable by inprisonment.
I'm going to feed the troll, but basically he's right, but not for the reasons he thinks. yes, people (not only government; Everybody) is able to pick up stray RF and capable of translating the signal back to it's original. Because of that, NATO developed TEMPEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEMPEST
And they can listen to you, watch you, monitor your Internet activity, and know exactly where you are with gps using that smart phone that you take everywhere, including in the crapper.
Think about that, it's the best possible monitoring device,, and people willingly take them everywhere and do everything on them. Don't worry about the damn tvs or computers, worry about those smart phones.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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