The days of scamming free wireless Internet may soon be over.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a paint that blocks wifi signals. So if a room is painted with this stuff, only computers inside the room would be able to pick up a wireless signal originating there. At a projected cost of £10 ($16) a kilo, the paint would be a cheap way of keeping hackers and moochers from using your wireless to download dodgy files.
The paint is infused with an aluminum-iron oxide that blocks all radio signals at 100Ghz, the frequency at which wifi transmits.
As ingenious as this sounds, there are a couple of downsides. First, it won’t protect the user from online threats, and of more importance to travelers, it will stop people from scamming free Internet while on the go. In Madrid I can go to my local park, pop open my laptop, and surf the Internet on somebody else’s euro. I can do this in many other European capitals too. With all the new costs being added to airline tickets, it would be a shame if this travel freebie were to disappear.
Perhaps we should tell the nice folks at the University of Tokyo “thanks but no thanks”? Anybody know how to say that in Japanese?