Raspberry Pi hires former spy gadget-maker who baked devices into surveillance ops
- Reference: 1670569329
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/09/rpi_maker_in_residence_police/
- Source link:
Toby Roberts, the former officer, has been [1]revealed as the Foundation's maker-in-residence – a gig devoted to baking Pis into all sorts of devices to assist pros and hobbyists alike do likewise.
"I have used Raspberry Pi a lot in various police tactics over the years," Roberts is quoted as saying in the Foundation's post announcing his appointment.
[2]
"I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear," he explained. "You really don't want your sensitive police equipment discovered, so I'd disguise it as something else, like a piece of street furniture or a household item."
[3]
[4]
Or as chocolate: the image below depicts silicon molds that Roberts designed to contain the [5]Raspberry Pi Pico W , one of the Foundation's microcontrollers.
[6]
Raspberry Pi Pico W-shaped chocolate molds made of silicon – Click to enlarge
Roberts is a dab hand with 3D printers, and explained he's built Raspberry Pis into lightsabers and models of Iron Man's arc reactors.
Sadly, the post announcing his appointment doesn't mention exactly how he used the Pi while he was doing police work, or whether he'll consult to former colleagues or similar agencies in future.
[7]Asus' latest single-board computer packs a 12-core, 4.5Ghz Intel i7
[8]Meet the CrowPi-L – a clever, slightly rustic, Raspberry Pi laptop chassis
[9]Ant Group’s in-house DB set for global release, including Raspberry Pi edition
[10]This tiny Intel Xeon-toting PC board can take your Raspberry Pi any day
Does Roberts's arrival mean readers need to be suspicious that a Chocolate Pi could rat them out?
The Raspberry Pi Pico W requires an external power supply, and unwrapped chocolate seldom lasts long. Your correspondent therefore suggests not much time would pass before a delicious spy Pi would be discovered – perhaps not long enough to capture any useful info.
If readers spot suspicious chocolate and suspect there's a Pi inside, we suggest placing some metal nearby. The Foundation’s guidance for users of the Pico W points out that its onboard Wi-Fi does best in free space.
[11]
"For instance, putting metal under or close by the antenna can reduce its performance both in terms of gain and bandwidth," the guidance states. If you want to spy with a chocolate Pi or another Pico-powered tool, the guidance suggests "Adding grounded metal to the sides of the antenna can improve the antenna's bandwidth." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/meet-raspberry-pis-maker-in-residence-toby-roberts/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y5MVTqkxCceFrxLMO@yD5gAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5MVTqkxCceFrxLMO@yD5gAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5MVTqkxCceFrxLMO@yD5gAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/microcontrollers/raspberry-pi-pico.html#raspberry-pi-pico-w-and-pico-wh
[6] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/12/09/supplied_rpi_pico_w_chocolate_moulds.jpg
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/08/asus_sbc_i7/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/25/crowpi_l_raspberry_pi_laptop_review/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/16/oceanbase_4_ant_group/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/16/intel_asus_singleboard/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5MVTqkxCceFrxLMO@yD5gAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: It's not gone well for them
It seems they are so high in their ivory tower they can not understand the dislike of cops in some places, that cops secretly spying on citizens is even less welcome.
They are being so tone deaf and digging themselves deeper in the mire that when they do finally understand how it looks the apology will have to be more grovelling than when they set their trademark enforcing attack dogs on fan sites.
Re: It's not gone well for them
Link, please? I'm not a Mastodontist (yet).
Re: It's not gone well for them
https://raspberrypi.social/@Raspberry_Pi/109476972427437410
https://twitter.com/Raspberry_Pi/status/1600761840367448064
Re: It's not gone well for them
This is a write up on the affair.
https://eiara.nz/posts/2022/Dec/09/a-case-study-on-raspberry-pis-incident-on-the-fediverse/
Whats the point
Whats the point. R-PI are vapour-ware anyway.
Well...
I'm impressed - it's good to see some old-fashioned breadboarding in this day and age...
Re: Well...
Bearing mind the subject matter, it could be breadboarding literally, IE with a board that looks like a slice.
you missed half the story
The social media account gave a lot of rude responses and banned a load of people in the replies who even mildly suggested their proud announcement wasn't the best idea
I doubt a silicon mold would work for chocolate
I think you missed an E, Silicone is used for molding objects with undercuts.
Besides too me that image contains the "chocolate" Pico enclosures that have been molded not the molds themselves.
They also don't look like chocolate, that's normally shiny, a quality a chocolatier strives for.
Re: I doubt a silicon mold would work for chocolate
I suspect that was an attempt to hide the Pico which failed and was never used, hence they've released the image.
I was on Mastodon as it ahppened
There was a lot of "stop using Raspberry Pi's" mostly from American people using the hashtag #ACAB
I went and looked it up - "All Cops are B******ds"
Seems a little un-nuanced.
Clearly a case of a specific crowd getting upset, as the ex-policeman was hired, and announced back in June.
But in general, a bit of arseholery on both sides.
It's not gone well for them
They posted about it on Mastodon, and when some users pointed out they aren't comfortable sharing space with the Police - as a general distrust, or in some cases the result of abuse - Raspberry Pi's social media team chose to respond with mockery.
Whether you agree with the objections or not, it's not really the smart route to take, and it's gone about as well as you might expect