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Theremin's Bug Let Soviets Spy On USA For More Than 7 Years (hackaday.com)

szczys writes: Theremin, yes the same Theremin who built the instrument that made the Star Trek theme song famous, had a hand in espionage as well. Albeit not a willing one. Turns out his life is actually quite tragic. In addition to that story, Adam Fabio takes a trip through the details of "The Thing", a bug installed in the US Embassy by the Soviet Union during the cold war. It used no batteries, instead depending on a carrier frequency transmitted by the "listener", causing the resonant cavity to transmit back the audio from the room at a higher frequency. Pretty nifty, and so was the hiding place: a hand-carved wooden seal of the United States. Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts, right?

3 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. oblig. FTFY by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Beware Geeks Bearing Gifts

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    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  2. Re:Star Trek not so much by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    The 2009 reboot...

    2005. Timey-wimey...

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. Re:no "In Soviet Russia" comments? by k3vlar · · Score: 3, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, Theremin plays you!

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    Unlike porn, which yada yada rimshot hey-ooh!