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Peter Cochrane's Blog: Wireless jammers galore

The dark side is always waiting to thwart our efforts...

Tags: gps, peter cochrane, road pricing

By Peter Cochrane

Published: 12 December 2007 12:14 GMT

Written on the Ipswich to London train and dispatched from a coffee shop in London over a commercial wi-fi service

I have just been challenged about some of the statements in my 12 June 2007 blog about the possibility of jamming GPS signals to avoid any future road charging schemes. Could the system be jammed across large swathes of the country as I suggest? And could it be done at a really low price? Yes.

Could the system be jammed across large swathes of the country as I suggest? And could it be done at a really low price? Yes.

For commercially available devices, check out the NaviGadget, these GPS jammers, or trace this trail leading to the DIY solution.

Believe me, this isn't rocket science. It is easy for anyone with modest skills in electronics to get the components and build one with a minimal collection of tools and equipment. But the number of commercial products available is already truly amazing and most appear to be easy to purchase and even easier to reverse-engineer.

As a matter of interest, there is a similar crop of devices available for GPS and wi-fi. We should learn: absolutely nothing is safe, secure or 100 per cent robust. There is only mitigated risk. The dark side is always out there waiting to thwart our efforts.

Peter Cochrane is an engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, futurist and consultant. He is the former CTO and Head of Research at BT, with a career in telecoms and IT spanning over 40 years. Peter has also held a number of prominent academic positions including the UK's first Professor for the public Understanding of Science and Technology. For more about Peter, see www.cochrane.org.uk.

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Read and write about internet access at the airports of the world at atlarge.com.

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