Worried about outsiders sniffing your wi-fi to gain access to your computer? Say hello to Wi-Fi wallpaper, thanks to researchers at France’s Grenoble Institut Polytechnique and the Center Technique du Papier. A Finish materials company called Ahlstrom plans to introduce affordable consumer versions of this wallpaper that blocks wi-fi signals. It will be commercially known as Metapaper and be available in 2013 in France, no word on a U.S. release date.

The wallpaper can block signals in the 2.45 to 5.5 GHz range, while still allowing television, FM and mobile phone signals to pass. Metapaper can be applied to a variety of surfaces such as concrete, brick and plaster and you can even paint over it.

There was an original version that was known as Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) sheeting developed years ago by BAE systems for the U.K. telecommunications firm Ofcom. It was designed to prevent unauthorized access to private Wi-Fi signals. However, it was too expensive. 10 square feet would have cost about $800 USD.

There was also a paint developed in 2009 by Japanese scientists that blocked Wi-Fi.

Source: PCMag