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Military on Alert for Killer Coke Cans
DigitalLogic writes "There's a new security threat at some of the nation's military bases -- and it looks uncannily like a can of Coke.
All I can think of is that a furby with a coke can must be the military's worse nightmare."
As usual, the post kind of misrepresents what the article is about... but that's just standard /.
I think they are being reasonable, if a bit silly. The contest-winning Coke cans (which are clearly visually distinct from a standard Coke can) have an integrated cell phone and GPS device. About this, the spokesperson was quoted as saying "In the remote possibility a can were found in one of these [secured] areas, we'd make sure the can wasn't activated, try to return it to its original owner and ask that they activate it at home..."
Why is this unreasonable? It's funny, sure... but not the example of misguided paranoia that it's made out to be.
jrjBlog
When was the last time anyone saw Furby, really? I thought the military already neutralized that threat.
*tinfoilhat*
What's to keep some other spy agency/group from disguising a coke can that looks just like the innocent 'outgoing call only + gps' with a 'bi-directional + gps + other nasty goodies' can?
*/tinfoilhat*
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
I don't really find this funny. I mean it's funny, but in the back of my mind
I just know that this is the tip of a big scary iceberg.
In the future I bet almost all devices, maybe even ALL soda cans, will contain
miniature computers with wireless capabilities. And troublemakers (evildoers?)
will be able to hack into them.
You chuckle now but did you think 10 years ago that there would be such a
thing as a smartphone? Bluejacking? Nokia phone viruses? MP3s, PDFs, or PNGs
that could exploit your computer?
So yeah, like TFA says, it's just common sense, nothing to get excited about,
but definitely something to think about.
Do you believe Coke when they say "it can only call us" and "there's no way to hijack it"? I sure don't.
"You can win, but you can't hide" as their promo stand ups in grocery stores read. Items tracking you, just a hint of waht is to come with RFID. Be afraid.
Distributed proteome folding @ WorldCommunityGrid.org
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This is the new marketing strategy for Pepsi.
Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
Sometimes, the military doesn't like the location of troops being revealed to anybody. They ban all cell phones and GPS devices that they don't control from being with such groups.
So, should a "winning" can be brought on such a mission, you've got a security hole... sure, the message is encrypted so that only Coca-Cola Prize Patrol knows where you are and hears what you say to them, but Coca-Cola Prize Patrol doesn't have security clearance now, do they?
GPS systems are intergrated into new celphones. Are those banned on military bases as well? The military is going to have to deal with a brave new world in electronics. What about car GPS systems? Are they banned from bases? It's a knee jerk reaction on the GPS front. As to it having a celphone for spying, are celphones banned from all meetings? My guess is most Generals are armed with a celphone. Celphone jammers are realitively cheap and availible. It might be a smarter and more pratical thing to simply use them in conference rooms and not sweat the Majors new lapel phone let alone coke can.
This was on FoxNews.com days ago.
Give it a day or two, and it will be on /. again too.
I saw this show on the History channel once where some guys used a soda can to conceal a small explosive charge. I also saw a movie in which a terrorist uses a cell phone to detonate some C4. Not only will terrorists use coke cans to hide explosives, they will use them to detonate them as well!
10 Bits= $.25
100 Bits= $.50
110 Bits= $.75
1000 Bits= 1 byte
hey, I figured this was so old that there would be 100 'THIS IS A DUPE' complaints. Be happy! Have a coke and a smile.
For those outside of the USA... today's not a business day here because the "4th of July" proper fell on a Sunday, so today is effectively running on a weekend schedule for most things. That's most of the reason why there's not much news coming out today...
Considering the number of times I've seen someone's cell phone go off in a classified meeting, I don't think this is that serious a problem. Hell, I've seen the deputy CIO's phone go off.
I do security
There are certain military facilities I visit where I have to surrender my calculator "because it has memory and you might use it to remove classified communications." Meanwhile, the local support staff is wheeling entire desks and filing cabinets in and out without the guards looking at them twice.
Don't think about it, it'll just make you crazy.
The real problem is that guards don't have any way of knowing what a device does, when it's in disguise. Forget these cans, and think about someone intentionally trying to sneak a device in... It might look real, but have electronics sealed inside.
The answer is pretty obvious though... Everything should be x-rayed, or MRI-scanned to verify that it is what it's supposed to be. Or, perhaps microwaving everything that is not supposed to be an electronic device would be adequate.
These prize cans are just a symptom of the problem.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
The military is really protective about their own privacy, but when it comes to snooping in on the regular communications of you and me, why, what is this privacy you speak of?!
Maybe they just don't want people to listen in on how many screw ups they keep making or how many trillions they've blown on torturing iraqis
May the Maths Be with you!
There are many government agencies that have a zero tolerance for wireless devices, devices with data ports, microphones, cameras, or whatever being taken into secure areas that deal with classified material. When you're talking about something regarding national security, you can never be to safe about what is allowed in a secure area.
And how would one automatically know that an unopened 12 pack case of soda had one of these devices in it? They wouldn't which is why the Military simply wants people to be aware of this. And who is to trust coke anyway?
Here's a scenerio: let's say some people were having a top secret conference and they had a 12 pack of sodas sitting in the back somewhere for refreshments aftwards. What if the device is accidently activated during this time and it starts recording the conference? What then happens if some unscrupulous employeee at Coke thinks it's an interesting conversation and releases it on the internet? Sure, all this could be very, very, rare, but given the nature of some information it's absolutely not worth the risk.
I hate anything linking to CNN.. so here's the Wired article : Paranoia Goes Better With Coke
I can imagine being majorly ticked if I spent my last 75 cents on a Coke only to get a cell phone + GPS receiver in a can.
I knew this stuff was bad the day I first heard rumors that they used the product to clean the engines of their trucks. Oh, and many police precincts carry a couple gallons to wash blood off of pavement.
In related news, Cokes' Hommies -
a one Pepsi,
a one Barqs,
and a one Mr Pepper Ph.D.
have been bought in for questioning.
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
Sounds like the usual post 9/11 stuff on TV news:
"What you don't know about Coke cans could KILL you! Coming up next...on FOX News!"
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Duran Duran
-Too Much Information
It's pumpin down the cable
Like never seen before
A cola manufacturer is sponsoring the war
SLASHDOT IN TWO WEEKS:
"Hacking the coke can. Part 1."
Come on, seriously think about it.
When you open a can of Coke (I don't drink Coke, so it's all you), you throw that can away as soon as you are done. What use is there to put any electronics into every soda can?
It'd be a huge waste of money. I doubt Coke cares to know where every single can of theirs is going.
The greatest experience we can have is the mysterious.
- Albert Einstein
Coca Cola is speaking here for civilians, but probably the army knows best about the capabilities of their military people... ;-)
Yes, it seems ridiculous to outlaw Furbys and Coke cans on base--but it's less ridiculous than having to say, "Well, no sir, General, we hadn't considered that possibility. Yes, sir, I agree that I am grossly incompetent. Sir, I will get that regulation promulgated right away, sir." Even worse is the outside chance that there could be a breach and having to answer to the press.
Military Intelligence in action. Seems it has only gotten worse since I left the service 6 years ago.
I smashed it and threw it away. I wanted soda, not some darn cell phone!
Just like that bag or all purple M&M's I got, or the chipless Chip O' Ohoys bag I got. Quality control for these companies must really stink?
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Drink beer.
There you are, staring at me again.
I really don't see if this could be a problem. If someone is in a sensitive area and they are aware of what the can contained, then they should have the common sense to wait until later to open the can.
/. really needs to add a "tinfoil hat" topic to it's topic list. Complete with awesome graphic of course!
OK, sorry to have to post this as an AC, but kinda forced to...
The job of a security manager is to be paranoid. Pure and simple.
I'm not allowed to have a cellphone at work... or a pager ( not just a 2-way pager, ANY pager). No writable media permitted, under any circumstance.
( Yeah, that's right-- I can get arrested for forgetting to leave my USB keydrive in my car in the morning. )
Is it paranoia? No. It's 'heightened operational security'. Clearances only go so far-- look at the $%$%tards like Ames and Hanssen.
Obviously, they've missed a significant chunk of people with any ad campaign for this contest-- I go thru 2 cases of Coke a week, and I only heard about the contest last week.
Without knowing what the GPScans looked like, how would you keep them out of a 'secure' facility???
"There's things generals should stay up late at night worrying about," he said. "A talking Coke can isn't one of them."
It's a good thing I'm not a military general. I ALWAYS worry whenever something that shouldn't be talking to me suddenly starts to do so.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Pre-verts and communists have created a new device made to infiltrate the NorthAm-complex.
But, Anonymous Coward, if that is your real name, if you shoot it you'll have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.
KFG
Also, that stuff will rot your teeth. Everybody with a mother knows that.
Have you read my blog lately?
Urban legends. About the only thing coke is good for besides drinking is cleaning chrome. Some places do clean their floors with seltzer water from a tap in the back of the soda fountain, but no syrup, that'd get everything all sticky. Link. Also try to find episode 5 of Discovery Channels Mythbusters. Probably avalible on p2p, or check the listings.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
And to think these people are running the country. "Coca-Cola Co. says such concerns are nothing but fizz." Agreed.
Get a grip, folks. The sort of environment they're talking about is extremely sensitive: like, the definition is "revelaing this information could lead to critical danger to the US and its citizens."
This isn't a joke. A few years ago, some member of Congress (Orrin Hatch is what I recall) proved how much an Insider he was, and what Good Stuff He Knew, by telling a reporter that we were intercepting Usama bin Laden's satphone calls. The reporter, also being a moron, reported this. Soon enough, UbL stopped making open satphone calls.
Some time later, 9/11/2001.
Quibble if you like about the absurdities to which this leads -- like the books I wrote twenty years ago which I can no longer legally read -- but if you look into the history of bugs, subversions, and general espionage, you'll find that worrying about someone bringing an unexamined cellphone into a classified facility is pretty reasonable.
There was a couple that won the car about a week ago around where I live. They also live close to: Eglin AFB, Hurlburt AFB, Pensacola NAS, Duke Field, 6th Ranger training batallion, etc.
Speculating, but this may have been in response to a "security threat" that had already taken place and they are trying to prevent any other events like this.
bah.
No, right now I'm the only person who controls the questions in the game.
However, there game is constantly rotating questions in and out of play so that it's a completely different experience every time you come back to it. Bookmark it and see for yourself in a few hours...
That's Dr. Pepper - MD - thank you very much! He didn't spend years in medical school to be called Mister!
They're not banning coke, they're requesting people make sure that there's no GPS in the coke can. Which, figuring Martin's statement is likely correct (effectively, a roughly coke can shaped wireless phone with a GPS), is pretty easy to do.
This sig no verb.
That someone at Area 51 will open the damn thing, and Coke's prize patrol will have to report there with the giant check!
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
Speaking of transmitting Coke cans, how hard would it be to develop a GPS-coordinate-transmitting device that could be issued to anyone who could be potentially kidnapped and beheaded in the middle east? Of course it'd have to be held in their "compartment" since the terrorist assholes kidnapping them would probably be on the lookout for such a thing. But really, if it came down to sticking a coke-can-sized transmitter up your ass most of the day versus potentially getting kidnapped and beheaded, I think most people would go for the coke can, no?
Anyone patenting an ass-transciever based on this post damn well better give me credit for the idea...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I was reading Fark, not /.
wtf? shouldn't this get an "assinine" tag?
All I can think of is that a furby with a coke can must be the military's worse nightmare.
I know the editors can't go around correcting everyone's submission, but they could at least insert a [sic] next to stuff that is misspelt , or with bad grammar. It would make the front page much more readable.
Pepsi is always a few cents cheaper. I never buy Coke above $3/12-pack and this 4th of July, they were at $3.29 (with the yellow "Save!" price label to boot). If I have to have soda pop and Coke prices itself out, I usually fall back on Dr. Pepper or 7-Up.
At $2.79 for a real fridge friendly 12-pack, I decided to give Pepsi a go this weekend. Now, I'm sitting here sipping one and wondering why I never bothered all this time.
Fanboyism definitely has its limitations.
Actually, you usually don't find vending machines inside the kind of classified facility that cares about a cell phone. You have to leave the controlled area to get a coke.
Classic, Vanilla, Cherry, Diet, No-caffeine, and now Wireless Coke!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
anyone thinking of hacking the coke can to do something else than creating excess litter after drinking it? like get the signal reading to transfer somewhere else and put that slice from the can to your laptop for example and recieve constant coordinates to trace it, in case of theft for example
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
This is a typical sarcastic reaction from non-military people. In the military a policy is a policy and must be followed strictly. Classified information is no joke. If a policy states that you will not have any device that transmits or receives information within x meters of where classified information is being processed or discussed then that must be strictly followed whether its a cell phone, blackberry, pager, walkie talkie, or in this case a promotional coke can. There are no exceptions, not even for generals. They can check their devices at the door, but even they are not exempt. Generals should not be staying up worrying at night about these coke cans, thats why they delegate such matters to us security people. But now I've said too much....Now look directly into the beam of light.
This whole controversy sounds like something drummed up by one of Coca Cola's PR flacks to promote their summer promotional campaign.
I feel icky.
How could ease dropping be a factor? Outside of tracking location, the only way to spy would be to have someone actually answer the cell phone and leave it on.
$>man woman
$>Segmentation fault (core dumped)
Has anybody considered that stories about what appear to be farcical exercises in military paranoia could be planted to make people believe the military is foolish, thus lulling the enemy into a false sense of security. And/or distract people actively trying to access classified and sensitive materials away from the true focus of the group that says. "Check you Coke cans" and "No Furbies". That way the enemy doesn't dig deeper for the "Hostile Intent Brain Wave Reader."
Anyway, these suggestions need to be made (at least to military personnel). Sure regulation states no recording or communications devices beyond this point. But this is a stuffed animal or just a can of Coke. Sometimes these thinmgs aren't necessarily obvious.
Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman
It's a cardinal sin not to read the article first, but the intro blurb has filled my head with the image of the ultimate villian, that coke machine that killed all the little baseball players in that classic man vs machine thriller Maximum Overdrive.
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
They're worried about these overly conspicuous non-standard-looking Coke cans when wrist watch cell phones exist? Now THAT is military intelligence for you! *rolls eyes*
Can I get mine with KC Masterpiece chips?
`which fortune`
In the future I bet almost all devices, maybe even ALL soda cans, will contain
miniature computers with wireless capabilities
*** Error: The electronic opener in this can has detected an overpressure condition inside and needs to shut down. The most recent temperature and acceleration data has been recorded in the logfile. By sending this information to CocaCola, you will enable us to help diagnose this condition. What would you like to do?
[Send Now]....[Don't Send]...[Just open the damn can before I pull out my Swiss Army Knife]
okay guys..time to launch a premptive attack against coke in Atlanta and unleash a media campaign! :)
I think this is a valid reaction. Think about it: its internal cell phone could be hacked to call some other phone and possibly even send all audio from the user - in whatever sensitive area - to wherever it is programmed to call. Of course, this could be integrated into normal Coke cans, but this is a good disguise for such an act, as ridiculous as it sounds.
A blog like any other.
I had heard an advertisement on the radio for this coca cola contest. Apparently they are putting a phone and gps locator inside some coke cans. If you find one you win a car. Of course phones and gps locators are not allowed in the secure areas ("behind the fence") in Los Alamos. Check this out.
1 0_ americas_gps_promotion.html
---------- Forwarded message ----------
You might get a chuckle out of this one (shades of Maxwell Smart), but apparently it's for real. If you work behind or near the fence please remove and report any coke cans found to contain a phone and GPS locator.
----- Begin Included Message -----
Might be careful before bringing Cokes into the security area.....
Subject:FW: Security Alert: Coke cans w/phone & GPS locator
It's a Coke - No, it's a phone with GPS locator!
This is NOT a HOAX, it is a legitimate contest being run by Coca-Cola!
Coca-Cola Cans With GPS Locators
1. Between May 17th and July 12th, approximately 120 cans of Coca-Cola with GPS locators will be hidden in specially marked 12, 18, 20, or 24 packs. While the advertisement states they could be hidden in Coke Classic, caffeine Free Coke, Cherry Coke; or Vanilla Coke, a phone call to Coke Customer Service found the locators will be hidden in packs of Coke Classic only.
2. The hi-tech Coke "Unexpected Summer" can is equipped with SIM card, keypad and GPS locator. On the outside of each can are a button, microphone, and a tiny speaker. Pressing the larger red button starts the game in process, thus activating the GPS signal and a cell phone used by the customer to call a special hotline.
3. Coca-Cola packages should be opened and inspected before entering the SCIF. Obviously, if one is found, it should not be activated within the SCIF; nor, should it be carried into the SCIF once activated. If one is discovered in the SCIF, either in a snack fund or from a vending machine, immediately report it to your Division Security Officer.
http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/nr_200405
Imagine for a moment someone DID constuct a bomb out of a coke can. How much semtex would a coke can hold? I've never played with the stuff, so I don't really know how powerful it is. I would guess though, if one were to go off in your face, identification by dental records might prove difficult. And wouldn't you feel better then knowing the military DIDN'T take it seriously?
See you then!
The wackjob comment was aimed at his initial post regarding RFID, GPS and "Minority Report" flashbacks. Next time read before writing.
I thought that rigged "Pepsi challenge" was bad, but this type of hysteria is a new low. Shame on you, Pepsi, for trying to share our brave troops from drinking Coke!
but the caffeine in it is a diruretic.
Coke cans that disguised as cell phones distributed to crack dealers with bonus samples of cocaine. (Oh. Wait... didn't it already, I mean..)
Faith: n. -- That human impulse that drives them to steal appliances when the power goes out
The cans do not even look like coke bottles.
:)
This emphasizes how insidious the plot is
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
From the article we learn:
- Coca cola is running an ad campaign with nice prizes.
- The american soldiers drink coke.
I wonder how much Coca cola payed to get this stealth ad onto CNN. I mean, come on! They even write what the prizes are!!
Martin
The reason you are not allowed to have a cell phone is because you could leak information to the outside with it. (If RF is blocked by a Faraday cage, you could still use voice recording, etc.).
is there a similar restriction on bringing cell phones to military bases or "sensitive" areas? It seems a regular cell phone would be more dangerous in this light than the killer coke cans, since, as Coke says in the article, the cans only call Coke and that's it. A cell phone could be programmed to call anywhere and function as a monitoring device, and spies could find your location based on a cell phone even without GPS. Hell, someone could install one of these in a can of 7-Up to really throw them off. But all that presumes the intent to spy.... the article is about preventing the accidental security risk of a Coke contest winner bringing this device to a meeting and accidentally sending the meeting details and private location to Coke. Again, that's fine, but it doesn't say in the article whether they'll prevent normal cell phones from coming in, which would pose the same threat.
At first I thought that this was a dupe. Then, I realized that I had read it on Collegehumor.com about five days ago. Way to be on top of things /.
[ ]
The military doesn't want anyone opening a can of coke during an alien autopsy or experiment. The last time someone came out to give a prize, they were abducted.
They needed to do that? We have CIA agents who carry around stuffed animals? 8\
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it? ~ Albert Einstein
At least here... thought less people throw cans fields, they get plowed into small sharp shards and silly cows eat them and then get their intestines cut up and die from it.
Happy thoughts....
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Ten to one, the software and probably even the assembly of these gps/phone coke cans was outsourced to a foreign country. What level of confidence is there that the cans have not been compromised in some deviously clever way?
Sure American designers/assemblers can be infiltrated too, but at least they have to do so amongst the eyes of hundreds of Americans who have a stake in their country remaining secure. In another country, it may be that only the upper-levels of management have any interest in not screwing up the relationship with Coke.
Hell, Coke is a multinational company too, whose to say that their interests are not sometimes at odds with the interests of America as a whole?
Maybe that sounds like tin-foil hat stuff to you, but from a security perspective, double-checking coke cans is low-hanging fruit, might as well grab it.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Yep- I recall a tour of the Federal Reserve (a Private Corporation, folks...) processing center in Cleveland. The operators enter through a glassed in area. They must disrobe. Then pass a security guard's station- nude. Then dress in uniform on the other side. The process is applied in reverse on the way home. Keep in mind that these guys process $Billions daily, and vault can handle around $1 Trillion in cash, and they get their currency in armored semis- $100 Million to a pallet of shrink-wrapped cash.. Of course, it might be an issue in the don't ask don't tell army....
My father was working in a research project for the military during the '80s, one of those hush-hush things you're supposed to maintain absolute secrecy. At one time, he received an advisory from above warning people not to discuss sensitive information near their telephones - these are plain old-fashioned landlines. Turns out that they'd received information that they suspected certain foreign espionage agencies of using telephones as receivers. Apparently they'd call a number, let the person on the other end hang up, and somehow they managed to hold on to the connection, thus using the phone as a receiver. Never figured out if this was paranoia or if there was any gleam of truth in it, but it sounded feasible to me at the time.
Everything I've read about this coke can fails to mention WHAT the can is sending. I would assume that there isn't a handset built into the can, so as to provide 1 or 2 way voice communication; but simply a cell transmitter to send the GPS location information...
This has got to be worked into Aqua Teen Hunger Force somehow!
After all, a Coke can that can bug them...with a GPS no less! :)
on Independence Day, didn't they have to bring down the alien shields with a computer virus? As Jeff Goldblum demonstrated, a Coke can behind the shield of a no-longer-defunct alien spaceship in Area 51 is just as dangerous a threat to worldwide security as the shield of a no-longer-defunct alien spaceship.
one trick the "family groups" used to use in lebanon, told to me by an IT worker we had who was raised there, was to cut the bottom out of a coke can, pop the pin on a grenade, slide the can over the grenade, and set it down on a street someplace.
:-D
there are doubtless other interesting things to do with coke cans, so I avoid 'em
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
There is a standing rule that ANY electronic brought into one of these secured areas requires prior permission. They do not deny entry to everything - only those things which people could either intentionally or unintentionally use to "easedrop" or spy.
Everyone seems to think that they worry too much about simple things, but here's why... The military performs testing on zillions of electronic devices to determine their weaknesses. They have determined that many communication devices can be hacked or easedropped on without the user's permission - and in a few cases, even when the phone is "off" but battery is still installed. Now, I drag a 12-pack of Coke into my cubicle and set it right next to my classified phone. There's a possibility that someone taps in and intercepts my Coke-phone and listens in on all my classified discussions. No matter how remote the chance, the government will NOt allow this possibility - hence all the fuss about the cans.
Now, just imagine how that cell phone can be used against you by your unscrupulous employer...
A top-secret government program involving instantaneous travel to other solar systems by means of a device known as a st
sorry if this is redundant, but I have to mention it :
(US Army Ranger sergeant being ordered by Peter Sellers to use his gun to blow a Coke dispenser apart to get some coins in order to avoid total nuclear war)
"if you do not get the President of the United States on that phone, you will be responsible to the Coca-Cola Company".
Google passes Turing test : see my journal
Drinking all that sugar is not at all good for you.
It's seems strange to me that the cans would be so easily distinguishable ... I mean if the person loading the coke machines and the store keepers selling coke see one of these winning cans - do you think they're gonna put it out for regular sale?
From article: "Specialized Coke cans carry chips and cellular phone equipment."
Coke WITH chips - how can this be a bad thing? St00pud milletary.
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
Excuse me, you're not talking about "some security firm" here, you're talking about The RAND Corporation.
RAND was formed by the Air Force back during the cold war. Did a lot of development of game theory. John Nash ('A beautiful mind') worked there.
Infamous back in the 60's for their game-theoretical approach to nuclear war scenarios.
Giving rise to the following satirical ditty by Malvina Reynolds:
More on RAND.
I suppose you get the picture. Like them or not, RAND is and has been the most influential defense think-tank in the world, and shaped a large part of US defense policy.
Calling them "some security firm" is a bit of an understatement in that light.
Ok, the concerns are valid and it would seem that CNN is fluffing
this one up; still I think soldiers should be warned.
My question is this, if one of these things were to be activated by mistake, on a base or a battlefront, would the Coke truck arrive? I mean an SUV delivered in Iraq might be an incredible prize to a soldier hoofing it......
Maybe the folks in charge should stop using Coke products, not the kind measured in ounces or milliliters but the kind measured in grams.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
No, but you might find a refrigerator that could be stocked with a case of soda...
SO now the case must be checked before stocking.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
In Canada's Wonderland, north of Toronto, any and all cans of soda/pop are not premitted at the metal detectors.
You either have to return them to the car, or discard them on the spot. No exceptions.
This is not related to GPS nor phone.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
Oh jeeez I can identify with that.
The one that bugged me the worst was... well, okay, a little sanitizing here.
I was reading articles in the public media about how the Administration was worrying about the Bad Guys -- call them Freedonia -- building anti-whaleboat weapons. The Public Media was saying this was silly, because there was no evidence that Freedonia had anti-whaleboat weapons, or would for ten years, and in any case protecting our whaleboats would be destabilizing.
The thing being that I was working at an operational site, intercepting intelligence about Freedonia testing their newly operational anti-whaleboat weapons.
Of course, the problem was that writing the scathing letter that the story really called for would have gotten me shot.
So let me get this straight: they've loaded certain coke cans with cell phone electronics and GPS devices, right? Oh man, this is too easy. I'm getting on eBay to see if they have any bug-sweepers. Just walk into every store that carries canned soft drinks and do a quick sweep down the cola isle. Booya! Instant winner, baby!
If I recall, some bug sweepers work by transmitting a radio frequency. Transistors will resonate with a radio harmonic which can then be picked up. I don't know how accurate they are at pinpointing the device, though. It might be counter productive to have to buy the entire stock of Coke just to get to a single winning can.
*** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***