Have you ever lain in bed wondering how to (hypothetically) evade capture by federal agents?
No? Well, that probably just means you’re normal. However, if you were to engage in this hypothetical, you might have considered Faraday bags. These bags, which are just small, flexible containers that block electromagnetic fields, have a number of potential uses.
You can, as I’ve written previously, use them as low-tech screen timers. However, their advertised use is a bit more ambitious. Need to survive an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack; avoid data harvesting by the NSA; or go on the run from the FBI? These bags, according to their sellers, have you covered.
In today’s world, true privacy is impossible for most people without either a massive financial investment or a complete lifestyle and location change.
All joking aside, it’s worth taking a look at the specifics of what these bags are advertised for, the degree to which they actually live up to that advertising, and whether or not the advantages they provide are even all that useful.
Let’s talk about EMPs for a second. Faraday bags, since they are EMF-blocking, protect anything inside them from being harmed by some sort of EMP. Although never put to the ultimate test, hypothetically, in the event of some massive EMP attack, Faraday bags would protect your electronics from harm.
However, given the fact that an EMP attack would disable all the cell towers, it probably wouldn’t be much help. There is a chance that, if you were on T-Mobile’s new satellite cell coverage plan, you might still have service. (At the time of publication, T-Mobile has not responded to inquiries about potential coverage under such circumstances. So we’ll have to leave that idea in the realm of speculation.)
A more useful practice, if you wanted to venture into prepper territory, would be taking a device like a phone or tablet, downloading all sorts of useful instructions and information on it, and storing it in a Faraday bag. That way, when the EMP goes off, you’ll still have access to whatever you stored on there. This example is emblematic of Faraday bag usage more generally. They are most useful for specific needs and circumstances rather than being relied upon to preserve your way of life.
Say you and your girlfriend have that lamentable iPhone feature where you can see one another’s locations, and you need to scope out a proposal spot without giving the game away. (This is not a personal anecdote — I remain a loyal Motorola customer.) By slipping your phone into a Faraday bag, you can location-scout to your heart’s content and still be able to call 911 if you get a little too close to that scenic cliff.
RELATED: Why today’s kids don’t know how anything works
Photo by Hulton Archive / Contributor via Getty Images
Say you work somewhere in the intricate world of the conservative movement, you’re meeting in a back room with some associates, and you would rather not have the contents of your conversation leaked to the New York Times. Having everyone put their phones in their bags for the meeting is a quick way to ensure your privacy. (Assuming, of course, that the curtains are drawn to prevent anyone from shooting a laser at the glass and analyzing the vibrations to figure out what you’re saying — yes, that’s a real thing.)
Now, if you really are some sort of Jason Bourne character on the run from your country’s intelligence agencies, a Faraday bag will absolutely come in handy. However, those sorts of characters have particular sets of skills which allow them to disappear and outwit the combined forces of whatever agency or country is trying to find or capture them. Unlike Ethan Hunt or Mitch Rapp, the average person does not have years of counterintelligence training and access to a global network of shadowy underworld experts. “Disappearing” is a lot harder than the movies make it look. Most people have regular jobs and live in regular houses. (Well, these days it’s probably a regular apartment if you’re under 40 and don’t make six figures.) This normal life means that, in the event of some situation where the FBI becomes intent on hunting you down, the means to your demise are already out there.
A friend of mine recently had to give his Social Security number just to get hot water in his house. That’s just one example, but it shows just how much about you and your habits is already in some federal database. Have you flown on an airline recently? Well, TSA has a scan of your face now. Oh, you declined the scan? Yeah, that’s cute. Does your car have a license plate? You’re going to need to ditch that, which is illegal, which means the police can pull you over, run your name (because you need to hand over that photo ID or you’ll be arrested), and immediately call it in to whatever sinister agency is hunting you down.
Say you evade the cops after a high-speed chase, so they don’t know who you are (assuming one of the many toll centers or other camera systems around our roadways didn’t scan your VIN and send it to law enforcement.) You’ll need food and shelter. Unless you’re dumb enough to use a credit card, you’ll have to bring all your cash along with you. Unless you’re sleeping in the woods, you’ll need a hotel (unless you plan to get your friends or family arrested for sheltering you). Hotels almost always require DOB, name, and address — and they probably won’t take cash. If you are hiding out in the woods, remember not to light a fire. Actually, go ahead. The thermal drone they’re using will pick up your body heat either way.
These are only a few of the ways in which normal people can be tracked and apprehended. The point of this digression is not to blackpill you or even to rail against post-Patriot Act America. It’s simply a reminder to have realistic expectations when purchasing or using tech such as Faraday bags. They aren’t going to turn your life around and make you into a covert operative, but they can make certain situations a little less stressful. They are one small part of a much larger apparatus and game plan in the event that you actually need to drop off the grid.
In today’s world, true privacy is impossible for most people without either a massive financial investment or a complete lifestyle and location change. If you have the ability to do either of those things, good for you. If not, my advice would be to focus on using the means you have at your disposal to protect specific, manageable areas. Sometimes it’s using Signal or Telegram instead of SMS, or taking notes in a physical notebook instead of an app. Sometimes it’s using a Faraday bag to keep a conversation private or protect your favorite iPhone game from an EMP. At the end of the day, the choices you make are going to have a far greater impact on your privacy than the tech you use.
Tech, Faraday bags, Emp
