From: "Peter Trei" <trei@process.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 23:13:28 +0800
To: cypherpunks@ssz.com
Subject: Re: EMP & Cars (fwd)
Message-ID: <199709081501.KAA01649@einstein.ssz.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> From:          Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>

> Forwarded message:
> 
> > Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 11:48:08 -0400 (EDT)
> > From: Ray Arachelian <sunder@brainlink.com>
> > Subject: EMP & Cars (fwd)
> 
> > There has been quite an interest in EMP.
> 
> > pulses to a near miss lightning strike. As far as vehicle disabling, There
> > are claims that auto manufactures have built in a shut down frequency into
> > the computers in certain vehicles. We wound a large coil on a carpet paper
> > tube and put an oscillator on it and it would flood a vehicles electrical
> > system to shut it down, but it was huge.
> 
> Mind being a little more specific?...

[...]

> > The easiest way to learn about
> > EMP is to find the International TESLA society web site and interpret the
> > information there.
> 
> Some of the best sources are ECM & EECM texts/sites.
> 
> While it is a good source of technical info it does take a bull-shit
> detector set to full to sift through all the other detritis the ITS wallows
> in. Space aliens, hollow earth, over-unity power, etc.

Ham radio operators have been dealing with this issue for years. 
There's a lot of (mostly anectodotal) stories of mobile operators
keying up their rigs and having either their own or neighbouring
cars misfiring or dieing. Shielded ignition cables seem to fix 
things (though they are actually bought to prevent ignition noise 
from getting into the radio, not the other way around).

Ham operators can use *much* more powerful transmitters than CB or
cell phones - my own transceiver puts out 50 watts, but some go a 
lot higher.

It's fairly common for hams to 'test' a prospective car purchase by 
waving an HT over the engine while transmitting, to see if it has a 
problem.

I suspect that it would be quite possible to build an EMP gun to 
kill most running cars, but it would also kill anyone with a
pacemaker.

I'm more worried about the current trend towards placing remotely
controlled electronics in cars. Already, one US manufacturer offers
as an option a satellite reciever which (among other things) can
unlock the car remotely if you lock it in the car accidentally. I 
have no idea how much authentication is required for such a request,
but I'm sure car theives are looking into it. To defend against
this, I expect next years model will also allow the car to be
turned off by remote control, or turn on a tracking device.

The popular 'Lojak' car tracking system has similar civil liberties 
issues. I understand that the car owner has no control over it's
activation, can't disable it, and there is no indication that it is
in operation.Apparently all the "authorities" need to turn it on 
is the VIN.

Peter Trei
N1MNV