US defence contractors were allegedly given Canadian
dollar coins equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID)
transmitters when they travelled in Canada, according to a Pentagon
report.
According to a report from the Defense Security Service, part of
the US Department of Defense, the contractors were given the
special-issue coins by undisclosed sources.
“On at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and
January 2006, cleared defense contractors' employees travelling
through Canada have discovered radio frequency transmitters
embedded in Canadian coins on their persons,” reads the Defence
Security Service report.
But following widespread publicity about the case in North
America, a spokesman for the Defense Security Service has played
down the report.
It has since been claimed that no transmitters were actually
found in the coins, even though they appeared to have been tampered
with.
Questions are now being asked why the information about the
“trackable” coins was included in the report, which contained
information on other reported incidents affecting US defence
personnel.
Other reported incidents included a defence employee being
seduced by a foreign national to gain his network security details,
and another contractor reporting his suspicions about a pen he was
writing with at a sensitive meeting.
The Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper quoted a Pentagon
official who played down the coins report. He said that while some
odd-looking Canadian coins had briefly triggered suspicions in the
US, the fears had proved groundless.
“We have no evidence to indicate anything connected with these
coins posed a risk or danger,” said the official.
Canadian report on bugged coins
RFID ink could track humans
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