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Watch Out! Pens are no longer safe.

Micro-spore swarms can track what you write.
phil jones

Remember when keyboards became insecure? ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7681534.stm )

That + cost and energy issues drove the adoption of our current smart-paper based Workpads and Lifepads. However, researchers at McCafee Labs have warned that a swarm of micro-spores (tiny, lighter than air sensors which self-organize collective behaviour via short-range radio) can be programmed to triangulate and follow the movement of the active nibs, and so capture and relay everything written, back to a rival.

The attack works in any enclosed space (office, school, home) but the cloud disperses in the open air. And researchers suspect that powerful fans or air-conditioning may also prevent the cloud forming a sufficiently stable structure to actually track pens.

A government spokesperson warned that microspores are banned as a highly dangerous health hazard. Nevertheless, with industrial espionage stooping to ever more illegal practices, this is little reassurance.

Oct 21
surveillance,industrial espionage,spyware


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