Electronics360: "Can lidar be used to hack a Roomba?"

Interesting that this ancient technology appears to work with lidars too.

The same principle was allegedly used in 1953 to 1976, known under the name "Moscow Signal". Back in the cold war age, CW microwaves were directed at the US Embassy in Moscow.

IIRC around 1980 "Readers' Digest" reported that the embassy windows, working as a vibrating microphone membrane, reflected the radiation which was received, processed and recorded by the KGB. This stopped either because of diplomatic complaints or after installation of a shielding (mesh or coating) on the affected embassy windows.

BTW, the common explanation for the "Moscow Signal" that the microwave beams were used to power eavesdropping equipment in the embassy sounds less probable to me, as 1952 the Americans learnt of this espionage technology and would easily have detected equipment working that way.