# Lifestyles & Discussion > Freedom Living >  Tin Foil Hats Actually Make it Easier for the Government to Track Your Thoughts

## idiom

I guess this goes here...

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/ar...oughts/262998/




> The scientific reasoning behind the foil helmet is that it acts as a Faraday cage, an enclosure made up of a conducting material that shields its interior from external electrostatic charges and electromagnetic radiation by distributing them around its exterior and dissipating them. While sometimes these enclosures are actual cages, they come in many forms, and most of us have probably dealt with one type or another. Elevators, the scan rooms that MRI machines sit in, "booster bags" that shoplifters sometimes use to circumvent electronic security tags, cables like USB or TV coaxial cables, and even the typical household microwave all provide shielding as Faraday cages.
> 
> While the underlying concept is good, the typical foil helmet fails in design and execution. An effective Faraday cage fully encloses whatever it's shielding, but a helmet that doesn't fully cover the head doesn't fully protect it. If the helmet is designed or worn with a loose fit, radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation can still get up underneath the brim from below and reveal your innermost thoughts to the reptilian humanoids or the Bilderberg Group.





> In 2005, a group of MIT students, prodded by "a desire to play with some expensive equipment," tested the effectiveness of foil helmets at blocking various radio frequencies. Using two layers of Reynolds aluminum foil, they constructed three helmet designs, dubbed the Classical, the Fez, and the Centurion, and then looked at the strength of the transmissions between a radio-frequency signal generator and a receiver antenna placed on various parts of their subjects' bare and helmet-covered heads.
> 
> *The helmets shielded their wearers from radio waves over most of the tested spectrum* (YouTube user Mrfixitrick likewise demonstrates the blocking power of his foil toque against his wireless modem) *but, surprisingly, amplified certain frequencies: those in the 2.6 Ghz ( allocated for mobile communications and broadcast satellites) and 1.2 Ghz (allocated for aeronautical radionavigation and space-to-Earth and space-to-space satellites) bands.*

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## jkr

aluminum foil?

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## ninepointfive

Tin Foiling was obviously a government conspiracy from the get-go!

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## TheGrinch

Psssh, freakin noobs. Everyone knows that aluminum foil doesn't work.

(Alright, I can't even keep in character on this one, that article is seriously LOL worthy though. Reads like something from the Onion)

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## Elwar

No brain activity is the way to go. Then they cannot read anything.

That is why there is such a huge fight against marijuana.

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## John F Kennedy III

Good thing I don't wear tin foil hats.

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## GuerrillaXXI

Sorry, double post. Please read below...

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## GuerrillaXXI

You would have never caught me in a foil hat, anyway. But actually, aluminum foil will probably have REAL uses in the burgeoning high-tech police state -- not in hats, but as a lining inside bags and other containers. You see, the evil, freedom-hating US government has been working to develop terahertz scanners that can see through your clothes from afar. In fact, these already exist. Their range is quite limited (maybe 25 yards or so), but efforts are being made to extend that, and they may have already been successful. Even worse, the devices aren't only capable of producing images; they're also capable of spectroscopy, meaning that they can identify molecules. In a word, these devices are intended to discern what you're carrying in your pockets, in your bag, etc., from a distance.

Here's a news release from earlier this year: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...171749275.html (On the bright side, note that the general tone of the comments is outrage.)

Rather than trying to guess at what the current capabilities of these devices might be or where they're being used, the way to retain your privacy is to note that terahertz radiation cannot pass through water or metal. So, if you want to walk around with something you don't want the pigs to know about, you can hide it inside a mundane object that has a metal covering (perhaps a phony laptop computer with a metallic case, or a metal lunchbox). Alternatively, put it in a small cardboard box lined with one or preferably a few layers of aluminum foil. It will just look like some random, unidentifiable object on the scanner. THz imaging devices don't have very good resolution, anyway. Just beware that if you're carrying a substance you want to keep private, any residue left on you, your clothes, or the outside of your aluminum-lined contained could be picked up by the device.

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