Edward Snowden: Can a Refrigerator Function as a Faraday Cage?

In today’s New York Times article by Heather Murphy, a story was related where a group of lawyers were ordered by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to put their cell phones in the refrigerator before sitting down for dinner. The idea was that the metal-clad fridge would act as a Faraday cage, blocking any electromagnetic signals and preventing the group from being surveilled.

This sounded a bit dubious, since a refrigerator is not completely sealed in metal. A counter surveillance designer by the name of Adam Harvey suggested that a cocktail shaker is a much better alternative. Curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to test out both. See the video above for the results.