Is Your Bag Of Potato Chips Spying On You?

[frogboy]

Content source

https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/wtfwednesday-how-your-bag-of-potato-chips-is-revealing-your-secrets/

On #WTFWednesday, the privacy threats we tell you about always get a “WTF?” from us because we can’t believe they’re happening. This week, we’re telling you about something we can’t even believe is possible.
You read the title exactly right. Spies can now eavesdrop on your conversations just by watching your bag of potato chips. Or the surface of the glass of water on your table. Or even the houseplant by your window. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
These aren’t specially wired spy-chip bags and spy-drinks and spy-plants we’re talking about, either. They’re just ordinary objects. How the hell does that work?
Well, the objects mentioned do all have one thing in common: they can all vibrate. There’s your clue.
Invisible Vibrations

If you know how sound works, you’ll know it’s essentially vibrations in the air. When you speak, your vocal cords create vibrations across a range of frequencies.
But sound can also travel through solid objects using the same method: vibration. And it’s happening all around you, all the time.
Whenever you speak, the objects around you vibrate on a minute, invisible scale. That includes your bag of chips, your drink, and your plant. They’re all trembling slightly with the tiny vibrations of your voice. You’ve just probably never seen it or thought about it before.
Unfortunately for your privacy, someone else did think about it. Enter the scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Full article here. https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/wtfwednesday-how-your-bag-of-potato-chips-is-revealing-your-secrets/

 

[Venustus]

On #WTFWednesday, the privacy threats we tell you about always get a “WTF?” from us because we can’t believe they’re happening. This week, we’re telling you about something we can’t even believe is possible.
You read the title exactly right. Spies can now eavesdrop on your conversations just by watching your bag of potato chips. Or the surface of the glass of water on your table. Or even the houseplant by your window. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
These aren’t specially wired spy-chip bags and spy-drinks and spy-plants we’re talking about, either. They’re just ordinary objects. How the hell does that work?
Well, the objects mentioned do all have one thing in common: they can all vibrate. There’s your clue.
Invisible Vibrations

If you know how sound works, you’ll know it’s essentially vibrations in the air. When you speak, your vocal cords create vibrations across a range of frequencies.
But sound can also travel through solid objects using the same method: vibration. And it’s happening all around you, all the time.
Whenever you speak, the objects around you vibrate on a minute, invisible scale. That includes your bag of chips, your drink, and your plant. They’re all trembling slightly with the tiny vibrations of your voice. You’ve just probably never seen it or thought about it before.
Unfortunately for your privacy, someone else did think about it. Enter the scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Full article here. https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/wtfwednesday-how-your-bag-of-potato-chips-is-revealing-your-secrets/

Defies belief!!

 

[Tony Cole]

Okay, atoms have three states, solids, liquids and gas, solids do not move with the sound of my voice, solids may bend, as some are malleable. Is this guy a true scientist, if so he needs to go back to University.

 

[frogboy]

Okay, atoms have three states, solids, liquids and gas, solids do not move with the sound of my voice, solids may bend, as some are malleable. Is this guy a true scientist, if so he needs to go back to University.

So you mean that the diaphragm in your stethoscope does not vibrate to transmit accurate sounds.

 

[aztony]

I wouldn't doubt it. Everything else is spying on you, from refrigerators to tvs, to that new car and just about anything in between

 

[Rolo]

Just eat them in a sandbox!

Oh, wait....does that mean foil hats are actually SPYWARE!?

 

[comfortablynumb15]

Here's the actual MIT report:http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/algorithm-recovers-speech-from-vibrations-0804. Notice that this says through video of said objects, which makes sense. So basically these spies have to be videotaping or taking high speed photos of you already, and it looks as though it needs to be in quite close proximity (the potato chip deal was done from 15 feet). In other words, you're likely to be very aware of this, which messes up the whole "spy" idea. By the way, this was in 2014, and I've yet to find their paper they were to present to Siggraph.

And here is the actual paper on the matter:http://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/papers/VisualMic_SIGGRAPH2014.pdf. It does look like it can be done from a larger distance, given a much larger focal length. It's interesting nonetheless.

 

[Deleted member 178]

Spies can now eavesdrop on your conversations just by watching your bag of potato chips. Or the surface of the glass of water on your table.

i do not care !!!

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