Why you need a steel wallet. (No, really) | Hacker News Reader

Why you need a steel wallet. (No, really)

itworld.com

5 pointsabennett17 comments

This account does nothing but post articles from ITWorld. This time it's to pimp a $70+ (!) "identity-theft preventing" wallet.

http://www.itworld.com/abennett

No need to suggest anything nefarious. Submitting articles for your own site is explicitly permitted here.

She's posted one comment...

It would be nice if people who post only their own articles cared enough about the community to participate in a manner more significant than only that. Submitting personal articles and running is borderline spammy.

This user does nothing but post articles from ITWorld, most (all?) of which she(?) doesn't write. The user isn't a member of the community; they're a human scraping service.

She's not a member of ITWorld's community either with 22k+ posts but 3 comments. :)

Username indicates this is Amy Bennett, employee over at ITWorld http://www.itworld.com/abennett

A friend of mine recently made me a duct-tape wallet lined with tinfoil. The theory is that this will act as a Faraday cage to protect my Mastercard with Paypass. I haven't tested it yet, but next time I'm at a Paypass place, I'm going to give it a try. Anyone have any idea if this is sound physics, or just paranoia?

That sounds like a great DIY way of doing what this "steel mesh" wallet does. I have heard though that different RFID chips broadcast on different frequencies that render certain materials less effective at blocking.

Here's another great product catalog with far cheaper prices for similar stuff: http://www.idstronghold.com/

I didn't know that different frequencies would affect blocking effectiveness, but it makes sense. My initial design was for some kind of copper mesh, but my friend, practical and cost-cutty as he is, said to go with tinfoil to get a similar effect. Those idstronghold wallets look a touch more professional than my duct-tape wallet.

I'm not a physicist, but doesn't the conductor need to fully encircle the card to make a Faraday cage? I would think that something U-shaped (in one dimension or another) like a typical wallet would just act as a waveguide. Even if it does act as a waveguide, it might make it safe enough. There might be a way to put some sort of flap that closes over the card.

There's also one other important requirement: it must be GROUNDED. So unless you're willing to wear a wire from your wallet down to the bottom of your shoe, this won't be too effective.

No, so long as it is electrically completely enclosed, signals won't get in or out. Doesn't matter if it is floating at +/- 13.89 v ac/dc above ground.

Offtopic, but ITWorld redirected me to a full-page ad before I got to the article. Above the ad, it said "the page you requested is loading" as if this excused the presence of the ad.

Are people really more amenable to looking at an ad if they think it's because they have a slow connection? Why do many sites blame the user's connection speed when (a) showing ads or (b) doing server-side processing?

No. It's a way to shove an ad in front of you, while making a lame, and completely bogus excuse as to why they are doing it.

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=77308&...

I'm not sure I believe the claims of RFID impenetrability, but, it sometimes set off the metal detectors at the data center.

And then when you pull your card out to use it, they swipe your info, since the data thievers are set up there anyhow.

Sexy wallet though!

Copper mesh lining is probably a better (and more flexible) alternative.

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