Slashdot Log In
Combating Harassing Use of Mosquito Noise Device?
Posted by
Cliff
on Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:55 PM
from the high-tech-hijinx-and-migraines dept.
from the high-tech-hijinx-and-migraines dept.
amicold asks: "For a while now my neighborhood has had to deal with an elderly neighbor who has displayed a slightly paranoid attitude towards myself and the fellow younger-adults of the neighborhood, believing us to be attempting to harass him in our day-to-day activities. Recently, he installed a Mosquito ultrasonic noise device as an apparent attempt to 'get back at us' for our harassment. As the Mosquito emits a sound that's well out of his hearing range, he can't hear it, while most of the rest of the neighborhood is under 40 and can; at which point it's causing everyone a great deal of discomfort. Unfortunately, because the police also can't hear it, we can't get the authorities to do anything about it, leaving us empty-handed in our attempts at getting some peace and quiet back. What can we do to either help the police realize how disturbing this device is, or counteract it so that it's no longer disturbing us? And is this the first of what may be a growing trend of civilians using high-tech discomfort weapons as a method of neighborhood warfare?"
Related Stories
[+]
Your Rights Online: UK Commissioner Seeks To Ban Ultrasonic Anti-Teen Device 552 comments
mikesd81 points out a Times Online article that discusses the legality of the Mosquito sound device, which is used to annoy and drive off younger people with sounds that are too high-pitched for most adults to hear. We discussed how annoying this device can be a couple years ago. From Times Online:
"Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England appointed to represent the views of the country's 11 million children, has set up a campaign — called Buzz Off — that is calling for the Mosquito to be banned on grounds that it infringes the rights of young people. 'These devices are indiscriminate and target all children and young people, including babies, regardless of whether they are behaving or misbehaving,' Sir Al told the BBC. 'The use of measures such as these are simply demonizing children and young people, creating a dangerous and widening divide between the young and the old.'"
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
right back at them (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, like getting yourself tossed in jail for vandalizing other people's property! Woo, hoo!
-jcr
Parent
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess if you're completely amoral and sociopathic...
Parent
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Try asking for a younger police officer... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you ever consider that maybe because he can't HEAR it he doesn't know there is a problem? Can you talk to him about it calmly and respectfully, or have you already become such bitter rivals that you would/could never do that..
Like WTF would putting glue in the door locks accomplish? Nothing..because if you are smart you wouldn't get caught..and he wouldn't have a CLUE that the reason you did it was because of the "ultrasonic jammer". He would just get more irrate and do something MORE irritating. MATURE adults try to talk out their problems..assuming that you aren't living in redneck-city or something.
Signed Sincerely,
Your local naive anonymous coward.
Parent
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Informative)
According to the products page [compoundsecurity.co.uk], the purpose of the Mosquito is to drive teenagers away from an area by producing high frequency sound only they can hear. Older people cannot hear it. The device has no other purpose, and is certainly not a mosquito repellent device as some posters have assumed.
Parent
Ask Slashdot? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ask Slashdot? (Score:5, Informative)
Most other legislations around EU (and many other countries outside it) are not any different. All you need to do is find the relevant local council address and send a complaint. They will send an engineer with measuring equipment at your site ASAP. The mere appearance of the van with the measurement equipment may be enough for the idiot Meldrew clone to take his Mosquito and shovel it where sun does not shine.
Parent
Have you tried... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
They would but... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Simple (Score:5, Funny)
Try this (Score:5, Interesting)
Take pictures of it. Print out the link you have in your post and any other documentation you can find on the thing. Ask a community service officer from the police to come out. She will probably be a she. She will probably be young, and since not carrying a gun, will not have spent a bunch of time on the firing range ruining her hearing. She will hear it, and since the docs clearly show it is designed to be annoying, she will be on your side. Probably. Maybe. You can try it and hope, anyway.
Plan B. You like Hendrix, right? With breakfast. Early. Turn it up to eleven.
Re:Try this (Score:5, Interesting)
They even had the ringtone as a downloadable ringtone there (you can't of course hear it at all if you're over 25 or so, as you age you lose the ability to hear in those outlier frequency ranges).
Here's a link to the story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?stor
Parent
Re:Try this (Score:5, Informative)
I can. It's the flyback transformer in your set making that noise - a very loud 15.75 KHz tone. I'm almost 40 years old and haven't taken real good care of my hearing, and it still bugs the hell out of me. One solution to the noise problem is to get a non-CRT television set (plasma, LCD, DLP, etc.).
Parent
Re:I call bullshit (Score:5, Interesting)
That sound is only 15 KHz, and the mp3 has 48Khz sampling rate. And the buzzer in the mobile is perfectly able to reproduce high frequencies, it's the low freqs that cannot be reproduced.
Parent
Re:Try this (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:OUCH! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Try this (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Try this (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Try this (Score:5, Interesting)
Screw that. I'd just head over there at 3 in the morning and smash it with a hammer (and I'm dead serious for those looking to mod this funny). I've had to deal with people of this sort in dealing with my condo association and let me tell you, there are certain segments of the elderly who literally hate everyone. Given that the police will do nothing about this, the only option is to take things into your own hands. These units are fairly expensive and some one on a limited budget (such as your typical elderly neighbor) will likely not have the resources to replace such a device. I would Hop the fence at three in the morning and anything that looked like it might be emitting the sound would be either stolen or smashed.
For anyone who has moral concerns over smashing the property of an elderly person, said person should take into consideration the fact that this elderly person has installed a device which targets young neighbors regardless of their actions or behavior. Punishing all individuals of a given group regardless of guilt is certainly immoral. Furthermore, said elderly neighbor has plenty of options through the local police department in dealing with disturbances and has no right to take things into their own hands
Given that the police will do nothing about this, one has no option but to take things into ones own hands.
Of course if you choose this course of action you should be careful in doing so and recongnize the fact that it is illegal. I'm really just saying what I would personally do and not necessarily what you should do.
Parent
Re:Try this (Score:5, Insightful)
But you just advocated vigilante actions when it doesn't appear that all legal options have been exhausted. Not only did at least one poster suggest other options through the police, there is the community government as well.
Parent
Observation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Observation (Score:5, Insightful)
Only if the poster stops complaining. So if the device has an accident with a pair of wire cutters in the middle of the night one should continue to act outraged for a while.
Parent
Skip the police. (Score:5, Insightful)
Then, all you need to do is be annoying enough that he moves to Florida. (Unless you already live in Florida, in which case you're screwed.)
Re:Skip the police. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Beat frequency (Score:5, Interesting)
Build a similar device to emit noise at a slightly different frequency. The result will be horrible sounds as the two waves interfere. The horrible sounds will seem to come from both your source and the original source. You may get the blame but at least the cops/etc will believe that an issue exists.
Egg 'im (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
How many of you thought "hmmmm. I could use this to really annoy xxx"?
And note that the link goes to a specifc supplier of such items. Not a generic link.... say a wiki. I mean, who really believes that some guy cannot get a cop under 40. Cannot figure out that he should talk to the police and explain more, or maybe go to see a lawyer... or maybe sneak into his neighbor's year with a baseball bat and a ski mask?
Do an end run around him. (Score:5, Funny)
1) Get a sound meter (dB meter, noise level meter, or whatever it's called where you are) and call the cops again. Show the meter to the officer.
2) Buy big speakers and send some noise his direction that he CAN hear. I recommend NES chiptunes.
3) Disconnect the device without his knowledge. He can't hear it, so he can't tell if it's working or not.
4) Kick the neighbor in the nuts. If he gets angry, kick him in the nuts again. If he threatens you, proceed to #5.
5) Shoot him. You didn't need the curmudgeonly bastard anyway. Take his stuff and tell his family he went on vacation to BFE. Be sure to dispose of his body properly - through a wood chipper, then burn the chunks. Invite other young neighbors over for BBQ. Display a big cookbook with a cover that says "To Serve Annoying Old Neighbors".
(And just for the humor impaired, options 4 and 5 are not serious. I am not the voice in your head telling you to assault or kill your neighbor. That voice is named Larry. I'm Matt.)
£495 ...? (Score:5, Informative)
Or, even if you don't like that, just find something with real spleen shattering bass and just blast it.
Also, for those interested, I found a link to the mosquito sound here [bbc.co.uk] from an article at the Beeb here [bbc.co.uk], also, another interesting turn-around:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/24/kids_turn_te
Quite fascinating...
Noise Cancelling (Score:5, Funny)
Noise Cancelling won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine throwing two stones into a quiet pond. The two expanding waves will intersect and cancel at some points - but half a wavelength further on they will be in phase and so double. So it will be with the sound - varying from silent to twice as loud depending where you are. As the wavelength will be small, moving your head will be very uncomfortable! You can try the effect if you play the clean MP3 sample you'll find at http://www.star94.com/shows/index.cfm?show=cr&cid
Meanwhile - IGNORE the idiots here suggesting various illegal measures. Those WILL get the police involved, but not in the way you want. However, if you could get the authorities to recognise the problem (get the neighbours to all complain to your local councillor as well as the police), you may be able to persuade them to take out an ASBO against the offender preventing him from continuing the nuisance. (For our US friends, an ASBO is an "Anti-Social Behaviour Order", and ignoring it becomes a criminal offence).
Parent
Apply System Engineering: Full Analysis (Score:5, Insightful)
If either you or the neighbor doesn't want to deal: since you've already alerted the authorities that the device is an issue, I'd pass on petty crime or felony-based solutions you likely suspect, you. You and your neighors should keep a running record of your complaints to the police. You might try borrowing/buying a meter that'll measure the dB of the frequency in question. Then, while you can ask for a younger officer that can hear the noise, if you get someone my age, at least the officer will have something to go on.
If you get the device taken offline without dealing with what's pissing your neighbor off, you may just be trading one headache for another.
I can relate... (Score:5, Funny)
Two years ago, the building next to mine was being totally renovated (they gutted everything but the outside walls).
And they had that big honking alarm that would go off each time a cat or a bird would go inside the structure.
Of course, it went off at 2 in the morning many times.
After a few weeks, we got to get pretty pissed at it, so I started to grab a pair of cutters, and enter the place despite it being barricaded (from the third floor, the balconies of the respective buildings are only 2 feet away). Then it's just a matter of finding the wire and snipping it.
Of course, they would fix it, until the next snip...
The last time I did it (at 3 in the morning), I was so pissed that I cut the wire in about 200 one inch long little sections. This must have drove the message home because that's the last time we heard the fucking alarm...
Re:I can relate... (Score:5, Insightful)
I live in a city, and I think most alarms are simply pacifiers that serve no real purpose. Think about it; If the alarm went off numerous times and nobody ever came, then there obviously wasn't any enforcement. Someone could do whatever they want anyway. An alarm that doesn't summon a person around is next to useless. It won't stop someone from breaking your windows (nobody's going to come), and it won't stop them from burning the building down (can be done from outside). If the alarm summoned the cops every time it went off, it would at least provide some security, and I'm sure the construction company would have fixed its sensitivity, since then it would cost them money for all the false alarms.
If you don't like the alarm tell the guy about it and that it is bird and such setting it off so he can take actions to prevent entry to those birds and such.
You're assuming he didn't ask them already. He very likely did ask them, and they "didn't see a problem" (since they weren't there at night). I would also like to know the fantasy city you live in where construction companies care what "the neighbors" think anyway. Where I live, they run jackhammers first thing in the morning, large generators all day (often away from where they work but next to someone else's place), and pour excess concrete in the gutter, partially ruining the street.
Parent
Do this (Score:5, Funny)
1. Spend the next 30-40 years breeding and training vicious attack dogs
2. Now you're over 40 and can hear it any more. (Plus, everyone loves dogs -- bonus.)
It's foolproof.
Why don't you try... getting along? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why don't you try talking to the guy-- listen to him-- this simple act will make him more comfortable with you. Apologize to him. Buy him a gift. Show kindness.
Which is of more value to you-- an empty, hollow sense of victory that will bring you no satisfaction, even if it does occur, or peace?
"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Suppose someone, to annoy, Provokes you to do some evil act. Why allow anger to arise and thus Do exactly as he wants you to do? If you get angry Then maybe he will suffer, maybe not. But by feeling anger yourself You certainly do suffer." "For in this world, Hatred is never appeased by more hatred; It is love that conquers hatred. This is an eternal law." -The Buddha
An economic war really... (Score:5, Interesting)
Betcha if you inject in some epoxy or expanding foam into said cone in quantities that won't be visible from the outside, the horn tweeter will stop making said annoying tone or at least attenuate the sound output or alter the frequency so that it won't be as bad.
Do it right and it'll probably still look like it was still working this way too. Much faster than trying to disassemble something and disable it while making it look like it's still working. The old fart can't hear it anyways, so he'd never know that you'd broken the horn tweeter as many others have pointed out.
You can also just go for a brute force/economic war approach:
Your cost: A couple of bucks for a tube of quick setting epoxy with syringe type applicator. Or, if you don't want to do this manually or the unit isn't readily accessible try some home made/customized paint balls filled with acid/epoxy/superglue/something nasty His cost: $600-$750 + shipping per unit disabled.
Just how many times do you think this guy will be able to afford to replace this device repeatedly? He's probably on fixed income so it's either the Mosquito or the Heart Medications/Doctor's Visits/Food/Heat/etc. The problem will soon go away given enough cheap paintballs I suspect.
War after all is really a matter of economics. Does the damage you cause cost more to your opponent than it does to you and which of you can continue spending money while racking up damage/cost the longest? The guys with the biggest budget or the ability to do massive damage to the other side for cheaper usually wins.
Dave
Behave like a man (Score:5, Insightful)
Now if you are completely without fault, and the reason for your problem _is_ indeed just paranoia, then the easiest and best solution is to just stay away. It doesn't cost you much, he feels better, and you feel better because you have done The Right Thing.
Some idiots here suggest you should escalate the problem. The problem with that is you don't know where it will end. If you escalate enough, it can end with destroyed lives, his or yours. Think about that.
Re:Behave like a man (Score:5, Insightful)
The best suggestions here involve getting younger policemen to come out to witness the aural attack. Don't call dispatch. The submitter needs to drive over to the precinct and talk to the person in charge - whomever is on duty. Explain the technology to them, show them news printouts from NPR, CNN, BBC, etc. Bring a sample sound clip of the "mosquito" on his laptop or iPod. He'll have to convince them in person or they'll just dismiss him as a punk kid/crackpot.
If I didn't have a house filled with kids and teenagers I might like to use this "warfare" myself on an annoying neighbor myself. My next door neighbor can't seem to experience any music without a sub woofer. In fact, I swear he has a stereo with sub woofer in every room of his house. Of course, he mounts his stereos on the inside walls. Every few months I have to go over there and remind him to keep it down after 10pm. Then I have to knock on his door at 1am, 2am, 3am... He doesn't get it until I've made such a pain of myself I win for a few months. If I asked this guy earnestly why he feels the need to be so loud so late at night he'd tell me to do anatomically awkward things to myself. No. I'm better off just kindly but sternly asking him to lower the music again. He glares at me but he turns the music down.
Now he's parking his car across two spaces so nobody else can use Guest parking. I don't think he's clueless. I think he just enjoys pissing his neighbors off. It's a power trip. Talking nicely to him only makes him crankier.
Parent
Since he can't hear the thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Get a young police officer... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Get a young police officer... (Score:5, Funny)
Dispite the redundancy in there, I think that's a great idea! If you keep complaining about the damned thing after you've disabled it, he won't even know it's broken.
Parent
Re:still out of luck, time for plan B or C. (Score:5, Informative)
If you follow the link in the story, you'd see that the neighbor in question did not install an insect control device (bug zapper) but rather something specifically designed to annoy young people and drive them away. (Mosquito is the brand name). From the link:
Did he tell you he was out to get you...?
Based on the device the guy installed, I think it goes without saying.
Parent
Re:Quit bitching (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Quit bitching (Score:5, Informative)
The wavelength of, say, 14KHz sound is very, very small [google.com] -- about 2.5cm.
Therefore the "shadow" cast by a cancelling device is also very, very small unless the out-of-phase canceller is right next to the noise source. The phase of the canceller will reverse (making things louder rather than quieter) every 1.2cm of distance difference between (the listener and the sound source) and (the listener and the canceller).
So, if you're say 10 meters from the canceller, and 20 meters from the guy's noisemaker, and the devices are in line (the best case) with your present position... you just need to go about
Not really a practical solution.
Parent
Re:Quit bitching (Score:5, Funny)
And then there's people who lack the fundamental understanding that sound waves do not propagete at lightspeed.
Parent
Re:A classic choice (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm replying to you out of many who said this, but...
The problem with this theory is that said neighbour has already invested approx £700 in a device with which to fight this war. A device which, if the war is terminated early will be useless.
Sounds to me like this investment will make resolution harder. The best time to fix this would have been before lots of money was invested in war-making machines.
See also: international relations.
Parent