Okay, who's bugging my Toonie?

[Hosakawa Tito]

CLICKY

They're probably ending up at casinos, strip joints, and taverns.

[Vladimir]

Another reason why Canadian currency is evil. First they try to take over our vending machines and now this?! Ever get a roll of coins from a Bank of America to find canuk currency stealthily embedded inside? I have.

[lars573]

I do you have any idea how often I find Yank small change in my change purse? A whole lot.

[Vladimir]

I do you have any idea how often I find Yank small change in my change purse? A whole lot.

Well if you don't want it, send it down here.

[lars573]

No. It's worth 20% more.

[Rameusb5]

Heh, something tells me ALL American currency is bugged anyway. :)

[GoreBag]

Finally, a reason for that stupid, two-piece coin.

[Samurai Waki]

Its no longer a matter of IF Canada will eventually Roll her tanks down the Urban Streets of America but when...

[Vladimir]

Finally, a reason for that stupid, two-piece coin.

Methinks I should get rid of all my pennies. Maybe THAT's why they refuse to take them out of circulation.

[Beirut]

All your coins are belong to us.

[KukriKhan]

The government's 29-page report was filled with other espionage warnings. It described unrelated hacker attacks, eavesdropping with miniature pen recorders and the case of a female foreign spy who seduced her American boyfriend to steal his computer passwords.

I, for one, welcome our new Canuckian overlords.

[Adrian II]

It wouldn't seem to be the best place to put something like that; you'd want to put it in something that wouldn't be left behind or spent," said Jeff Richelson, a researcher and author of books about the CIA and its gadgets. "It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense."

Exactly my first reaction.

If this is true though, it is fascinating stuff. The signals of the transmitters can be picked up only a few yards from source, no further. Hence they are not useful for tracking the movements of (certain) people.

All that can be tracked (with fixed detectors in narrow public and private corridors, doors, and other passages) is the movement of the coins themselves. Coins literally change hands, so what the transmitter coins track is essentially the geographical spread of the coins within a certain population within any given time span.

All I can think of is that this is a simulation of a contagion process, an experiment designed to measure the spread of a contagious disease or poison. In particular, it should measure the speed with which the contagion reaches spots with high security clearance.

No, I haven't been reading too many thrillers. I just can't think of an alternative explanation, a situation that Adrian II always finds very hard to accept.

[Vladimir]

Check this out:

DSS: Defense Security Service (US)

A U.S. government defence agency has suddenly retracted its claim that Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters were planted on three American contractors who visited Canada.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NAS...=1112101662670

MI5

London-- MI5 has discovered that British defence contractors travelling to Canada to discuss "sensitive contracts" have been bugged by Chinese secret agents.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/thomas011607.htm

Whom do you trust? It seems like DSS embarrassed themselves twice.

[Adrian II]

The bugs take the form of minute receiver-transmitters hidden in hollowed-out coins, which are slipped to the contractors at airport money-changing kiosks at Canadian airports. (..) While the range of a coin transmitter is small, it is capable of storing microfilm or a coded message. These can be retrieved by pressing a spot on the coin face to open the coin.

And the coins are supposedly retrieved by pick-pockets?

As the CSIS lady said, the Chinese must be huge James Bond fans.

[Kurando]

Reminds me of that Simpsons episode ‘Who Shot Mr. Burns?’ where the lab worker says "if you’ve ever handled a penny the government has your DNA on file; why do you think they keep them in circulation?"

[BDC]

Wouldn't be the first time currency has been used to monitor stuff.

They tried to test bank notes in Ireland to monitor cocaine use. It came up 100% on the first try.

[Fisherking]

In actuality if this is really occurring my first bet would be the French are trying to pin something on the Canadians.

Why would I blame the French; well in the past they have been at the forefront of espionage efforts against the US in many areas. If the coins came from inside the US it would make me think it might be any number of other countries. But who knows!