CDR: RE: Burglar Politics, Tempesting PC's that watch TV and DVD regio

[Trei, Peter]

> ----------
> Lucky Green[SMTP:shamrock at cypherpunks.to] wrote:
> Sunder wrote, quoting
> > http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/13863.html
> >
> > <SNIP>
> [...]
> > It's my understanding that TV detector vans work by picking up
> > the radiation emitted by cathode ray tube TVs - which should mean
> > that, if you're rich enough to run an LCD monitor they'll never
> > know you're a secret Paxman admirer.
> 
> A popular, but false, myth. The video cards radiate more than the CRT's.
> Laptops tend to be the worst offenders.
> 
> --Lucky Green <shamrock at cypherpunks.to>
> 
Yep. Most laptops have a video card for attaching an external monitor,
with an unshielded port - they thus spray out monitor-driving RF signals
while they run, regardless of whether there is a monitor out there to
receive them. 

Of course, a *good* laptop design would power off the video card if it's
not in use, to extend battery life if nothing else. I don't know if they do
this.

One of my home systems is a Compaq desktop with an LCD screen. It 
does *not* use a standard video cable: there is a pure digital interface for
the LCD. (I've never investigated as to whether I can seperately remove the
SVGA card or interface). 

Peter Trei