Court to hear IR heat signature case

[tw]

Originally posted by russotto
This isn't about portable phones, or any other item which deliberately broadcasts RF. This is about snooping on the inside of people's houses based on incidental EM emissions. For these purposes, even visible light devices such as binoculars and telescopes are not allowed; your neighbor looking through your window from his with a telescope can be charged as peeping tom, and if the cops do it from their unmarked van, the evidence is inadmissable. Using IR devices to do the same thing is a step beyond the use of binoculars and telescopes. And beyond that is millimeter-wave technology like that described in the link above. If the courts accept the IR evidence, it's no step at all to allowing the cops to routinely use millimeter wave devices to see what's going on in anyone's house at any time.

If using binoculars and telescopes was a crime, then there are 100,000 criminals on Manhatten Island. I never read where use of binoculars to look into another's home was a crime. If true, then Channel 6's Sky Watch helicopter or the LAPD helicopter would be illegal. They respect a person's privacy but are not legally banned from looking inside those windows.

RF vs visible light vs infared - they are all electromagnetic wave transmissions - all same concepts in the eyes of the law. For that matter that IR detection unit we were using 15 years ago in TX was simpler than a radio receiver. What monitors your TV remote? An expensive, exotic device or a simple diode attached to a single chip detector? IR receivers are common, everyday devices. IR radiation is easily monitored and is not exotic, high tech equipment. IR receivers are even routine in 35 mm cameras. Would you ban all infared film sales because it might violate people's privacy?

If your house transmits incidental radiation, then that radiation is for all to monitor. If incidental radiation was so important to your privacy, then 'you' are responsible to protect your privacy. We do it every day. Its called plywood, siding, insulation, sheetrock and paint.

The original point is that electromagnetic monitoring laws, orginally applicable to longwave radio, also applies to all other electromagnetic wave transmissions. For privacy from telescopes, cover the windows. For privacy from IR recievers, install walls. If you don't want your neighbors to see your nuclear reactor, then install gamma ray shields. No problem. You have no expectation of privacy unless you create that privacy.