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A comment on America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’ systems. Parent comment

Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by jloughry on Saturday July 30, 2016 @02:27PM (#12194083)
Non-invasive fibre optic tap technology has been commercially available since at least the early 1990s. I recall seeing ads for a hand-held device at that time. By carefully bending the fibre over a mandrel, a small amount of light can be made to leak out through the cladding past the angle of total internal reflection. No need to cut and splice the fibre.

The ads implied the device worked on jacketed fibres; I suppose that depends on the transparency of the jacket to 1064nm IR radiation.

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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by tomkinstinch on Saturday July 30, 2016 @02:46PM (#12194154)
Bending isn't required, and the transparency of the jacket doesn't matter if it's thin enough. The term to Google is "evanescent wave coupling."
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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by Gravityloss on Saturday July 30, 2016 @03:15PM (#12194275)
There is even a "laser razor" kickstarter that utilizes the effect. When a beard hair goes near the fiber, the light escapes from the fiber, and burns the hair, cutting it.
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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by jacobush on Saturday July 30, 2016 @06:11PM (#12194879)
Hoax tho
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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by colechristensen on Saturday July 30, 2016 @10:58PM (#12195536)
That one didn't seem like a hoax, just a neat idea that wasn't really possible to make into an actual product. (as in, it kind-of worked but wasn't going to be physically possible to make into a remotely satisfying product)
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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by nzjrs on Sunday July 31, 2016 @07:23AM (#12196484)
So a hoax, no?
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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by colechristensen on Sunday July 31, 2016 @11:11PM (#12200008)
No, a hoax implies they were deliberately trying to scam people.

It seems like they learned about a neat concept, made a proof of concept that actually worked, but ran into physical reality when they tried to turn it into a reliable product (while being optimistic along the way). It's real hard to stop being optimistic at exactly the right time, and I'd be pretty forgiving if it seemed like everybody was giving an honest effort.

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Re:America uses stealthy submarines to hack other countries’... by nzjrs on Monday August 01, 2016 @01:40AM (#12200404)
I've read a lot of /r/shittykickstarters and this smells like all the scams there.
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