this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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The reason the FCC is only allowing the sale of state approved routers in the US?

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[–] Lojcs@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago (13 children)

Any reason this wouldn't work with cell towers?

[–] fleck@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I think the main advantage with the wifi-based approaches is that they are usually used in a relatively static/calm indoor environment with a stable channel response and your motions are disturbing that, compared to a quickly changing outdoor environment (e.g. a city) where it would be much harder to distinguish individuals. Also, you are typically closer to the access points, making the power/SNR higher. Regarding mobile communication though, the trend is towards higher frequencies and smaller cell sizes which also give greater spatial resolution (and higher power) and some funky near-field effects can be used to get beam forming on crack: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.10147 So perhaps it could work even better, wouldn't be surprised

[–] magnue@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I imagine resolution decreases with range

Edit: resolution not revolution

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

Revolution should increase the closer you get to a billionaire.

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[–] LillyPip@lemmy.ca 22 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Comcast Is watching you masturbate. Awesome.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I mean, they kinda already were.

[–] turtlesareneat@piefed.ca 15 points 2 days ago

Especially if they've been opening all those videos I've sent

[–] Corvidae@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Building codes should probably include Faraday-cage type shielding.

[–] skibidi@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (5 children)

That would prevent cell signals from inside, making it harder to (e.g.) call the fire department, or an ambulance.

[–] Capable_Coping@piefed.social 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

the return of landlines is nigh

[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago

Honestly, we'd be better off at this point.

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[–] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Melobol@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That means "yesterday's spy tech" that now they will leak to public, because they have a way better way.
I'm not sure of the current state of my tinfoil hat.

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[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 14 points 2 days ago (5 children)

How do they identify a particular person though? I get you could see people as present or not or moving around the room, but it's insane that they would be able to tell facial features etc.

[–] BussyCat@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

A paper from around a decade ago talked about using WiFi to identify key strokes so with large data models we have today I would assume they could get pretty good fidelity on a person. Maybe not enough for “beyond a reasonable doubt” but probably enough where your WiFi company is selling your data on what you do at home

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[–] einlander@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

Comcast routers already have a feature to detect people's presence.

[–] amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There is a project I can't find now which uses an esp32 to create a presence detection system that integrates with home assistant and it uses wifi.

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I know of ESPresense, but that only tracks your phone, not your body..

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[–] RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

The Dark Knight tech was a lot closer than we realized in 2008.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

It‘s like the phone sonar tech from the Dark Knight everyone said was total BS but totally real…

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