IBM Seeks Patent On Digital Witch Hunts

theodp writes "Should Mark Zuckerberg want to identify a snitching Facebook employee, Elon Musk wish to set a trap for loose-lipped Tesla employees, or Steve Jobs want to 'play Asteroid,' they'll be happy to know that a new IBM 'invention' makes it easier than ever to be paranoid. In a newly-disclosed patent application for Embedding a Unique Serial Number into the Content of an Email for Tracking Information Dispersion (phew!), Big Blue describes how it's automated the creation of Canary Traps with patent-pending software that makes ever-so-slight changes to e-mail wording to allow you to spy on the unsuspecting recipients of your e-mail."

Comments

That's a neat trick!

[Tumbleweed]

I'm pretty sure witches are analog.

Re:Security through obscurity. Again.

[nacturation]

Viola, new unique copies, that don't match what they have on record.

When I leak your post to the world, I'll be sure to change that to "Cello, new unique copies..."