Missed A Step

I was watching television with my mother when a story came on about car thieves using "relay attacks" to steal cars. The basic idea is fairly simple; an antenna is used to amplify and relay the signal from a key fob inside a a home. A receiver is brought close to the car; since the car is receiving a signal, it believes the key fob is close, and allows the car to be entered and started. The story was a stereotypically dramatic one, including a woman calling for more police presence in her neighborhood to combat the problem.

Of course, my mother was worried. Her car, after all, has a keyless entry and ignition system.

But things weren't as simple, or as dangerous, as presented. Mom is a tea drinker, so I asked her if she had a tea tin in the house. She did. So I used it to demonstrate that with her key fob closed inside the tin, the signal was blocked, and the car couldn't be opened or started, even with the tin sitting on, or in, the car. Problem solved.

The idea of a Faraday cage is an old one. Faraday bags and boxes are readily available. Not to mention tea tins. Accordingly, there was no reason to present this as a clear and present danger. But the story as presented seemed calibrated for the scare factor. Not all journalism should be, or can be, solutions journalism. But when the solution is simple, there seems to be no real reason to omit it.