Do as I say not as I do

[Doug1]

There was a time not too long ago that it was argued that picking off energy from radio waves was a form of theft. Now every cell phone and small electronics company even the gov is working towards that to recharge their little gagets. What argument will there be when some company uses this president to pick off radiated power from transmission lines. Things are only ok if the right criminal is doing it.

[Sprocket]

I once read there was a time in the seventies when electronics mags then were publishing circuits to do the same thing, until 'someone' put a stop to it, while also broadcasting far & wide that such a thing was impossible to do, another urban-legend so to speak.  Obviously not...

[neptune]

Somewhere , I read about a high powered transmitter used by Nazi Germany as a propaganda tool . Nearby residents used to light their houses for free using a crystal set ,driving a torch bulb . Aparrently they were caught because this caused a shadow in the radiation pattern of the transmitter . Mein Fuhrer was not amused .