MELBOURNE, VIC. — Far-right activist Monica Smit, and founder of ‘Reignite Democracy Australia’ is now selling ‘faraday cages’ for $50 each. No one in Monica’s far-right group of anti-vaxxers, sovereign citizens and Nazi cookers thinks that a faraday cage can be created, for example, by simply wrapping one’s phone in aluminium foil.
A Faraday cage for any communications device is a conductive enclosure used to block external electromagnetic fields. It is primarily used to protect sensitive, unattached electronics and backup radios from severe electromagnetic interference (EMI) or destructive Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs).
For such to work, however, the devices should also be disconnected from the signal source, such as wi-fi, cellular or coaxial cable feeds.
In other words, Monica Smit is not meeting Australian Consumer Law, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been contacted for comment regarding Smit’s alleged false advertising.
You know those ‘freezer’ bags one can buy at the checkouts of IGA, Coles, Woolworths or Aldi? The ones with the foil lining? That will serve fine as a Faraday cage as the bag is lined with foil, thereby forming a Faraday cage.
Those ‘cold items’ bags at your local supermarket are not sold for $50 each, and that is all Smit is selling: a foil-lined bag for cold – freezer – items, without a supermarket logo on it.
What Smit is advertising can be done with a roll of aluminium foil from one’s local supermarket or cupboard.
You can report Smit’s alleged grifting to the ACCC here.
