These days, many people are concerned about their privacy, and I admit to being somewhat concerned myself. I recently took down my Facebook page – after it was hacked three times this year. So, if anyone sees a Facebook page with my name on it – it’s not my Facebook page – someone hacked my original page, and made one false Facebook page that looks similar to the real one, and the second one doesn’t even come close to being like my original. Additionally, I found that it was too time-consuming keeping up with everyone’s newest Facebook page posts.
Also, folks are more than a little concerned about the recent news of the National Security Agency (NSA) spying on our phone calls, e-mails and conversations – and with good cause. While I have nothing to hide in my e-mails, conversations and phone calls, I still don’t like the idea of the FedGov spying on my privacy. And, as everyone knows, anything you say, no matter how innocent it might be, can and will be taken out of context if the FedGov is determined to arrest you for something – it happens all the time.
In the past, I know that my e-mails were clumsily looked at by someone – I’m fairly certain it was the FedGov. Anytime I mentioned the words AR-15 or AK-47 in my e-mails, it took those e-mails several days to reach the intended party they were meant for. However, without those “catch” words, e-mails went right through – with those words, it sometimes took as long as 3 or 4 days for the e-mails to reach whoever I sent them to. I also ran a company, many, many years ago, called Rescue One – and we were registered with InterPol as a private intelligence and investigations agency, and I had offices in Athens, Greece and Cape Town, South Africa – as well as in the US. And we know mail between offices had been opened and read – it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that our mail had been opened and read. Funny thing was, a lot of the work we did was contract work for one of our own intelligence agencies. Whatever!
These days, I’m almost to the point of just tossing my cell phone away, it gets annoying at times, especially with text messages. Whatever happened to good ol’ fashioned phone conversations between friends? Conversation is a dying art, it would appear. And, everyone is probably aware of the continuing news of the NSA spying on our phone calls – it’s in the news daily. And, until now, it was hard to stop anyone from listening to your phone calls.
Signal Armor‘s new zip-lock portable Faraday cage design. Anyone not familiar with Michael Faraday’s design, can research it. Just a short mention here, Faraday invented a “cage” that protects an implement from static electricity. It can also protect electrical appliances from an EMP attack, too.
The Signal Armor bags consists of four layers, one is a heavy duty outer layer, another is an additional protective layer under the first, and an anti-static protective layer and the zip lock closure. It’s all pretty simple when you exam it. And, it also protects your cell phone by making it waterproof when you place your cell phone inside the bag and zip it closed.
I was intrigued by the Signal Armor concept, and wanted a way to test it. Lacking an EMP attack, I placed a Family Radio Service (FRS) two-way radio in the bag, and zipped it closed. I then tried to take my second FRS radio and attempt to communicate with the first radio – no luck, the signal didn’t get through. I then took my cell phone, placed it in the Signal Armor bag, zipped it closed, and had one of my family members try to call my cell phone – several times – and each time, their calls were immediately sent to my voice mail – no signal got through to my cell phone, when it was inside the Signal Armor bag.
Now, the Signal Armor bag won’t protect all your cell phone calls – because you have to take your cell phone out of the bag to make or receive calls. However, when your cell phone is inside the bag, and it is zipped closed, no one can activate your cell phone and listen in on any conversations you might be having in your home or car. Not a bad start, to assuming some of your privacy back. Of course, when your cell phone is out of the bag, the NSA or whatever government agency will be able to listen-in on your phone calls, or even turn on your speaker, and they can listen to conversations in your room. Still, the Signal Armor bag isn’t a bad idea if you have concerns about your cell phone privacy.
We’ve all probably heard the saying “just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you…” and these days, privacy seems to be a thing of the past for the most part. So, if you want to regain a tiny bit of your privacy via your cell phone, the Signal Armor is a good first step. Someone asked me how well the bags would work against an EMP attack. Well, to be quite honest, I don’t think it matters. If there is an EMP attack, and everyone’s cell phones, cell towers, computers and all electrical products are fried – then what difference would it make if you cell phone still worked? You wouldn’t have anyone you could call. Stop and think about it!
The Signal Armor bags sell for $8.49 and the company is designing larger bags for other purposes and uses. So, if you have some concerns about your cell phone privacy or an EMP attack, then pick-up a couple of these neat little bags. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio