Spy coins update — US government claims they're real

Mark Frauenfelder 1:07 pm Thu Jan 11, 2007

The AP is reporting that the "spy coins" (hollow coins with tiny transmitters in them) I wrote about yesterday are real.

In a U.S. government warning high on the creepiness scale, the Defense Department cautioned its American contractors over what it described as a new espionage threat: Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden inside.

The government said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.

Link (Thanks, Gaby!)

Previously on Boing Boing:

• Canadian coins bugged? Link

• Russia spy HQ has giant batman mural in floor Link

• Technology for parents to spy on kids Link

• CIA's goofy spy-robots Link

• FAA grounds LA Sheriffs' plans for "spy plane drones" Link

• Lockheed Martin designing tiny "maple seed" spy plane Link

• High-voltage machine shrinks quarters to the size of dimes Link

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