Whoo Hoo and they all laffed at me

Paris... who else would be you PA when your covered in whipped cream

This is what it's going to come down to, isn't it :|

http://holamun2.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/toshiba-bubble-helmet.jpg

I suppose we discovered this was possible in 1982 (well, the concept if not the technology) - still, it's impressive they can extend it to eyeballs reflecting a screen image.

How soon before this appears on the black helicopters?

(and then satellites...)

Then again they'd probably have the blinds closed...

Why the true nerd works in a darkened cellar, with loud music to cover the distinctive notes of the keyboard.

Remember, if you're in the only circle of light in a room, you've got grues for guards!

Paris, because she too has mastered the use of curtains, though not how to avoid cameras.

You should always have the curtians drawn as you don't know when the urge to look at a certian video may hit.

It's ok, shiney side in still works doesn't it? not sure how this will impede on your gigawatt mind controll ray protection factor though...

Best first comment ever.

Although the whipped cream might cause a reflection!

I think they were looking at ladies undressing and made this shit up when the police caught them.

"$27,500 telescope 30m away"

Right, so I should be suspicious of some shady character setting up a 15ft-long heavily-stabilized telescope across the road, pointing it straight at my window?

No kidding, Einstein, can I have your job please?

..but the rest of me isn't reflective, and anyne coming near my backdoor is in for some serious grief.

will need to be of a non-reflective ethnicity?

I foresee an optical exhibition in the windows of tinfoil hatted conspiratards everywhere.

Quite looking forward to the shows on misty winter nights. Oh.. they will close the curtains...

Don't tell 'em.

These days, may office buildings have half-silvered windows just to keep the heat down - then again, getting within 30m of your average office with a rather large telescope is not going to be easy, particularly if you want to see in one of the upper storeys!

Nice report, Reg, but what would I give to make a living by doing such obvious research! Notice that it doesn't mention the ability to read printed documents via a reflection, or doing anything seriously clever like reading the EM fields from a distance...

Too right, I'm sure most people will notice a crew maneuvering a telescope and training it at them 10m - 30m away, especially seeing as it would be happening in their normal field of view. 30 metres is the main limiting factor here clearly.

.

But what next though? A hi-res firewire digital camera telescope, with reflection tracking software for auto-surveillance? You can even get it to filter out the general surfing/document writing, and capture all the really juicy tidbits.

Just remember to put it behind that special glass the cops use for identity parades, and keep the lights off, eh?

But why spend all that time and effort on seriously complicated things, when a far simpler and more reliable solution can be easily shown to do the job just fine?

There's no mention of how large the telescopes should be, by the way. Only their price, and high quality optics can be extremely expensive regardless of their size. Also consider that even moderately large telescopes can still be concealed in vans and cars and so on without any particular difficulty.

Indeed, hence TEMPEST monitors, Farady cages, and the like. Allegedly there's enough RF emissions from the scan coils and electron beam of a classical CRT to allow it to be read, and a picture reconstructed, by suitably equipped operatives tens of meters away.

How does all that TEMPEST stuff work in the era of LCD monitors with minimal emissions, and plasma TVs with huge (but incoherent?) emissions?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/19/ashtray_offer/

Or maybe even:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/01/ebay_monitor_flash/

But eventually the returns for these kind of methods start to drop, I have to trust my ISP hasn't altered my download of firefox to change the security certificates or combine that with man in the middle attack.

Any keyboard could have a keylogger installed inside it, not just on the cable, my router might have been swapped and flashed with a custom firmware. When somebody can't get a password to work they just reset the device and blame themselves for forgetting it so most items can be swapped out.

Or if it doesn't matter if somebody knows they are being watched, break in and club them over the head until they give you the information.

...has been on the internet for as long as people take photos while naked. A similar vulnerability, but well worth a Google for comedy value.

....I'm not going to bother reflecting on anything anymore - straight to thoughtless action from now on.

German eggheads spend $27, 500.

I spend £5.95. http://tinyurl.com/5ceqp6

Teutonic stickybeaking averted & my brew's still hot!

read a book called Supernature : a natural history of the supernatural? (c1973)

It mentions people with vision so acute that they can read text off other people's eyeballs. At least, I think it's that book. Anybody care to confirm/refute? A fantastic book at any rate.

Hardly breaking news, CSI-Crime Scene Investigation frequently manage to get infinitely high res images off anything from camera phones (found on a beach) to reflections off your eyeball (lids closed of course). ;-)

Paris, cos she is well aware of unusual camera angles

I'm worried about the M$ guy with the considerable forehead. You could read a reflected 10pt Word document from the next galaxy off that thing without a telescope. Lucky for him I read yesterday that he is also a "fast-moving object" when the Hungarians take out their lunch.

next up, California to ban telescopes because welfare recipients are afraid their details will be visually hacked while being entered into Government databases...

Wasn't Galileo ordered by the Authorities of the Day to keep his telescope below a certain inclination to keep him from observing the sky? Soon we'll see laws against having telescopes decline *below* a certain range. CA approved telescopes will have mandatory lockouts and bang-stops to keep telescopes from being used in ways that could offend people. Collapsible telescopes will be banned outright, scopes that are too large will be allowed only by licensed Thought Enforcement Personnel (good leftists academicians) and scopes too small will be considered "useless" and "only used by criminals who want to conceal a hacking device" and will be banned under a new Democrat-supported "Assault Optics Ban".

"When telescopes are outlawed, only outlaws will have telescopes!" I'm starting a preemptive strike-an organization called the National Optical Association. Since Heston is no longer with us, we'll offer the leadership to Ahnold-he'll be needing a job soon...and if you saw Heston in "Soylent Green" you'll notice that as younger men they had more than a passing semblence in jawline, acting style, and mannerisms....

For a moment there, I thought you were going to tell they'd found it.

Great rant! I guess your tinfoil must have slipped for a few moments there.

Mine's the one with everyone going through the pockets.

hmm.. spending $2700 to rip credit card details to buy a $2000 big tv? Anyone else wonder at the improbable investment required and whether just not spending the money on an expensive telescope might be a much safer way of buying what you want off the internet?

Ok, industrial espionage then? I've found that telescopes would normally attract attention, especially when planted only 30 ft away from your victim. Sure the 90 ft away crowd might be able to peer in through tinted windows, but telescopes are particularly funny about stuff like that.

Anyway I reckon that most info hijackers usually employ the following devious techniques to hack into someone's account, employing Q-style cunning and intellect.

1 - Phone up and ask for the user's username and password.

2 - Walk in and copy the username and password from the postit stuck on the monitor.

That would be: exactly like across the street, then.

Logic! Logic! What logic? Nobody said you had to be logical to be a journalist.

I suspect a conspiracy to increase sales of telescopes, bought mine on a whim and used it twice (like the wife said i would - damm her being right again)

So anyone need a state of the art spy telescope ?