-
Although 'Alexa, Open Everyone's Garage Door' Would Be Amusing
-
Every once in a while, we get a story about a neighborhood mystery, when everyone's garage door opener either fails to work or opens and closes at random, and they rarely ever figure out why that happens. But in one Ohio area, they HAVE figured it out. In North Olmsted, car key fobs and garage door openers stopped working, and they found a high-frequency signal interfering with the devices. Where was it from? Well, the electric utility went out and shut down power in areas where the signal was strongest, and after several trials and errors, they figured out that it was a homemade alert device made by a guy who just wanted to be alerted if someone was upstairs while he was working in his basement; the device would sense someone in the house and turn off a light. It worked, but it sent out a signal that screwed everyone else's devices up. We hear a lot about danger to the power grid from outside influences, but if a random tinkerer can accidentally cause devices to fail with a simple battery-powered gadget, we're REALLY insecure. (New York Times)
Have an opinion? Add your comment below.