3 MAKE projects to help you fight for your online privacy

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I was expecting to see some big 4PST (or 8PST) for the project, but apparently it just uses a SPST.

Specifically, it cuts the signal from the orange twisted pair. I know Ethernet needs just the green and orange to function (at least at 100Mbps and below), so I wonder: why interrupt the orange and not the green? Does that choice matter at all? And at higher speeds, does routing one signal but not the rest through the switch generate problems due to the path the signal takes?

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Like one of my dads secure offices with the knife switch for disconnecting the phone line.

It should be POE-powered and use transistor switching. Only then would the overkill factor rise to the necessary level of ridiculousness.

I was wondering that myself. I would have thought that using a giant toggle switch in an unshielded box might not be the best signal path for high speed ethernet cabling…

Anyone have any idea of what kind of signal loss, if any, or vulnerability to noise this simple switch box would entail?

So, what does this get you, really? It keeps your computer from being live scanned or remote operated while you are away, but does that really increase your security? I guess it does mean the bot net that has taken control of your computer can only send your credit card details while you are using the computer, and it can’t send out spams 24 hours a day, but this part time air gap seems about as protective as saying you don’t need condoms because you aren’t having sex all the time and are “protected” when ever you step away…

Beware, you could shut the whole Internet down with that thing:

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I’ve had a Pi sitting on my desk for the past year with no real plans for it. A portable TOR AP is a pretty cool idea.

How about combine the Internet Kill switch with a Makershed Most Useless Machine Kit? Label the finger “NSA fickle finger of fate” Attempt to turn off the internet, the NSA turns it back on? Simple bipole switch substitution for the one in the kit, turning it “off” kills the internet and activates the NSA finger that turns it back on?

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