Canadian coins are transmitting...

[+AV Dezign]

http://tinyurl.com/y2sd53

 

here is part of the article:

 

Canadian coins bugged, U.S. security agency says

Last Updated: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 | 8:52 AM ET

The Canadian Press

 

They say money talks, and a new report suggests Canadian currency is indeed chatting, at least electronically, on behalf of shadowy spies.

 

Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters have mysteriously turned up in the pockets of at least three American contractors who visited Canada, says a branch of the U.S. Department of Defence.

 

Security experts believe the miniature devices could be used to track the movements of defence industry personnel dealing in sensitive military technology.

 

"You might want to know where the individual is going, what meetings the individual might be having and, above all, with whom," said David Harris, a former CSIS officer who consults on security matters.

 

"The more covert or clandestine the activity in which somebody might be involved, the more significant this kind of information could be."

 

The counter-intelligence office of the U.S. Defence Security Service cites the currency caper as an example of the methods international spies have recently tried to illicitly acquire military technology.

[+2happy2gether]

Last I checked April first is still over 2 months away.

[danoshimano]

Ha ha! Good method... until they track the person right into the till at a Tim Horton's.

[+Geofellas]

Last I checked April first is still over 2 months away.

 

Ah - of course - so that's what happened to our order for special April Fools geocoins - CSIS hijacked them

[+The Blue Quasar]

Yes... cause as we all know... Americans are just thrilled when they get our coins as change.

 

And of course, no one ever spends coins. Like, leaves them on the bar as they leave to go home to the place that won't accept their coins anyway.

 

More likely, even if these "Super Spy Coins" did manage to make it home, that's where they would stay.... in some loose coin jar on the dresser. No what am I thinking... the defense contractors will carry a few Canadian coins with pride to every place they go.

 

Maybe they should try "Spy Pens"... people seem to have more of an attachment to those items

 

The Blue Quasar

[+northernpenguin]

So.... when do we get the new REALLY trackable geocoins?

[CharlieZulu]

Some of us here are involved with electronics, satellites, etc and I have to go along with the April Fool thing.

 

We all know that electronics is shrinking all the time... look at your cell phone, iPod, etc etc and MEMS technology is coming along just fine.. and for that matter so is Nanotech

but what do you suppose is the technology used here to do the "tracking"?

 

Chris

Edited January 11, 2007 by charliezulu

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

Hope we can add that to some geocoins we have... It would be much easier to find them when they suddenly gone missing.

[+2happy2gether]

Some of us here are involved with electronics, satellites, etc and I have to go along with the April Fool thing.

 

We all know that electronics is shrinking all the time... look at your cell phone, iPod, etc etc and MEMS technology is coming along just fine.. and for that matter so is Nanotech

but what do you suppose is the technology used here to do the "tracking"?

 

Chris

 

Yoctotechnology!?..or was that a trick question?

 

Here's a deep thought...technology on an atomic scale...I'd rather ponder the size of our universe.

Edited January 11, 2007 by 2happy2gether

[danoshimano]

...but what do you suppose is the technology used here to do the "tracking"?

 

RFID tags. Well developed, quite common, and within a few years of becoming ubiquitous.

[+AV Dezign]

It's true that it makes it hard to see something trackable that small when Garmin can't come up with anything smaller than the Astro 220 to track dogs.

 

http://www.garmin.com/products/astro/

 

Cool product though, I would like to play a "chase the man game" with GPSrs and this unit.

[+Juicepig]

well if anyone figures it out, put out a real-time trackable geocoin! that would be a neat idea!! It would certainly prevent (or deter) geocoin theives!

[CharlieZulu]

...but what do you suppose is the technology used here to do the "tracking"?

 

RFID tags. Well developed, quite common, and within a few years of becoming ubiquitous.

 

Yes RFID tags are going to be everywhere, but 99.99% of them are passive and must be scanned (or placed thru a scanner) to be read. These coins alledgedly have a transmitter built into them and are pumping position data, to what system I don't know. Conspiracy theory? Uh-oh (clickie).

 

Poppycock, I say!

[+2happy2gether]

That would explain that lump underneath my cranial dermis that I keep nicking with the razor. And I thought I was abducted by aliens. Still doesn't explain the mysterious pregnancy though.

[+Shawn&Holly]

That would explain that lump underneath my cranial dermis that I keep nicking with the razor. And I thought I was abducted by aliens. Still doesn't explain the mysterious pregnancy though.

Not sure what disturbs me more, nicking yourself with the razor or the pregnancy, in the same paragraph, does make one wonder.

[danoshimano]

...but what do you suppose is the technology used here to do the "tracking"?

 

RFID tags. Well developed, quite common, and within a few years of becoming ubiquitous.

 

Yes RFID tags are going to be everywhere, but 99.99% of them are passive and must be scanned (or placed thru a scanner) to be read. These coins alledgedly have a transmitter built into them and are pumping position data, to what system I don't know. Conspiracy theory? Uh-oh (clickie).

 

Poppycock, I say!

 

There could be an RFID tag on a cereal box in your house that can be scanned by a vehicle driving by on the street.

 

But the point is a good one. Even the "long" range RFID tags are only good for a short distance. (But collecting data by driving vans through neighbourhoods is a very real possibility.) The original article does go on to say the whole thing really makes no sense.

 

Instead, it must be one of those little buttons from the Mission Impossible movies. They can track anybody to within 30cm anywhere in the world. CSIS must have developed a flat one that can fit inside a Loonie. Yeah, that's it.

[+northernpenguin]

If we're going to get all bent out of shape about RFID tags, the thing to get bent out of shape over is the RFID tag enabled Passports. Why drive a van down the street when you can simply walk down the airport terminal and gather the information to steal a hundred people's identities?

 

Biometric Passports (Wikipedia)

 

As for the RFID spy-coins, they're only effective until the target "spys" that vending machine over there.

[+Couparangus]

The original article does go on to say the whole thing really makes no sense.

Ah yes, but does it? If this elctro-coin is indeed true I'm guessing its used to extract information from a Blackberry or other wireless device on the "marked" person. Given that its contractors whom have found these I'm guessing the "range" of the unit is such that it can grab information from everyone in the same room. I'd really like to see one these alleged coins.

[danoshimano]

If we're going to get all bent out of shape about RFID tags, the thing to get bent out of shape over is the RFID tag enabled Passports. Why drive a van down the street when you can simply walk down the airport terminal and gather the information to steal a hundred people's identities?

 

Was somebody "all bent out of shape"? But something that can bend me a teeny bit out of shape is hearing the familiar "I've got something worse, so don't think about/worry about/care about/mention that" line.

 

Stealing peoples' identities doesn't nullify other privacy concerns, which is a totally separate issue.

 

As for the RFID spy-coins, they're only effective until the target "spys" that vending machine over there.

 

Good point.

[+northernpenguin]

If we're going to get all bent out of shape about RFID tags, the thing to get bent out of shape over is the RFID tag enabled Passports. Why drive a van down the street when you can simply walk down the airport terminal and gather the information to steal a hundred people's identities?

 

Was somebody "all bent out of shape"? But something that can bend me a teeny bit out of shape is hearing the familiar "I've got something worse, so don't think about/worry about/care about/mention that" line.

 

Stealing peoples' identities doesn't nullify other privacy concerns, which is a totally separate issue.

 

As for the RFID spy-coins, they're only effective until the target "spys" that vending machine over there.

 

Good point.

 

Guess I'll consider myself 'told'. My post wasn't meant to detract from the other worthwhile points, it was more meant to add another point to the RFID discussion, and what can be done with them. I also raised it as a scenario more likely to impact one of us, as I doubt the NSA is actively tracking geocachers, or what they eat for breakfast. It was something that I remembered when I read the post about driving down the street with a van.

[+fizbot]

What probably happened is that the guy passed through a scanner and got flagged for an RFID and when he emptied out his pocket the only funny thing there was some canadian coins which they promptly blamed rather than searching further to find that it's actually the RFID sown in to his new pair of pants to prevent stealing from the store. Of course they can't say they made a mistake, so it's "Foreign coins a security threat".

[danoshimano]

Guess I'll consider myself 'told'. My post wasn't meant to detract from the other worthwhile points, it was more meant to add another point to the RFID discussion, and what can be done with them. I also raised it as a scenario more likely to impact one of us, as I doubt the NSA is actively tracking geocachers, or what they eat for breakfast. It was something that I remembered when I read the post about driving down the street with a van.

 

Sorry. I honestly didn't see it that way, but I guess it was the first sentence that confused me. Not the first time I've been confused in a forum, and probably not the last. If I see you at a pub night, may I buy you a pint?

[+northernpenguin]

 

Sorry. I honestly didn't see it that way, but I guess it was the first sentence that confused me. Not the first time I've been confused in a forum, and probably not the last. If I see you at a pub night, may I buy you a pint?

 

My wife will be more than happy to tell you just how confusing I can be when I talk/type, so we'll share a couple pints . Thanks for understanding

 

--

 

Now, back to our programme. One of the more cool uses of RFID chips is used in the iPod+Nike kit. If I had an iPod nano --- I'd get one of these kits in a heartbeat. You put a receiver on your iPod and a transmitter in your shoe - then it communicates with the iPod which will adjust the music around your workout routine. You can upload your running information to Nike.com and keep tabs on your workout too. Really cool stuff - and, if you're on the west coast you can even get a google map of your run.

 

Well, you're not supposed to - but some enterprising researchers found your could read the transmitter chip up to 60 feet away and they mapped a few joggers (now nobody's going to ID the jogger based on the RFID tag #).

 

Article on Nike+iPod (Bruce Schneier)

Nike+iPod Artice (Slashdot)

 

I like this particular story, as it discusses geolocation data (very geocachy) - I wonder how hard it would be to setup a geocache where one has to find the RFID chip....

Edited January 16, 2007 by northernpenguin

[+northernpenguin]

.... and here's the "correction" on the original story Globe and Mail Story from Jan 10