Clean escape with GPS jammer
Every time technology is used to fight crime, the bad guys are better equipped.Only Batman, the crime fighter, has always been better equipped.Car thieves now use GPS jammers to block the satellite signals used by some theft deterrent services to locate stolen cars.
This is not difficult to do.A quick Google Shopping search for GPS blockers reveals models priced under $70.They don't even have to be strong. To drown out incoming satellite signals, the jammer only needs to output 2 watts of power. “The strength of a GPS signal is about the same as a 25-watt light bulb viewed from a satellite 10,000 miles away,“ Bob Cockshott of “cybersecurity“ firm Digital Systems KTN told a seminar.No wonder the satellite navigation system took so long to lock on.
It's not just criminals who use this technology. Its cars are used by employees tracked by the company to pass the time, and according to the Guardian, German truck drivers use them to “evade GPS-based road pricing“.
But knocking down a gas-guzzling car and installing it on a person is just the potentially annoying part of a GPS jammer.A 20-watt unit is enough to cover a commercial airport, and the results are dire.
It is also possible to provide false signals to the GPS unit, which are harder for the operator to detect than direct interference.If you start doing this to a boat driven by a sailor with no sextant experience, you will be seriously damaged.
However, there may be some benefits. People reading this story may become less trusting of their in-car sat nav and actually take the occasional peek through the windshield.