It’s telling how the pitch for this technology has pivoted from military and police use to keeping people safe in their own homes...
Authored by Mr.E: When police suspected Danny Kyllo, an Oregon man, of growing cannabis in his home they drove to his house with a thermal imaging device to scan it. They found hot pockets in the house, which were used to obtain a search warrant and subsequently bust Kyllo.
Fortunately, a 5-4 Supreme Court decision ruled the scan an unlawful search under the Fourth Amendment, requiring a warrant the police did not obtain.
Score
one for privacy, but the government is about to have a far more
controversial and dangerous tool at its disposal to monitor what’s going
on inside your home.
Unlike a thermal imager, this device is already in your home – and you put it there.
How It Works
WiFi
is electromagnetic waves in the 2.4 and 5 GHz ranges. It’s the same
thing as the light you see, only it can penetrate walls due to its much
longer wavelength. Just like light (and echolocation) these waves also
reflect off various surfaces and, when reconstructed properly, can be
used to create an image.