[sdiy] OT: (spy) novel use for PC board etching

[KA4HJH]

OK gang, I'm back with another cool off-topic link that you tech-heads will
really like. Call this one "Mission: Very Possible Despite Claims To The
Contrary". It's a great example of what a serious DIY'er can accomplish
when he puts his mind to it, and it does involve etching a PC board:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/25300.html

All I can ask is how much did they invest in these eleven "unbreakable"
security systems when you can beat them with $10US worth of household
materials? Have they learned ANYTHING from the experience of software
developers??


Special OT bonus feature: at the bottom of the page there's a link to
another article entitled "Marker pens, sticky tape crack music CD
protection". This one explains how to circumvent those new copy-protected
CD's everyone's up in arms about (won't play in a computer--might even
crash it) by--get this--obscuring a portion of the disc with a piece of
tape! How many millions did someone invest in this digital chastity belt??

Furthermore (I'm on a roll now), THAT article has a link to a German web
page where they show in detail how the trick is done. Not exactly rocket
science but the English translation of the text (courtesy of Google) is a
laugh riot.

Where's Tipper Gore when you need her? I say this calls for some new
warning labels...
-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"If I can't be God I don't want to play"--Aleister Crowley