Loose chips sink ships…
A New Zealand man has found confidential United States military files on an MP3 player he bought at an op shop in the US.
Chris Ogle, 29, from Whangarei, bought the player from an Oklahoma thrift shop for $NZ18 ($A14.50), and found the files when he hooked it up to his computer…
The 60 files on the player contained the names and personal details of American soldiers, including ones who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There was also information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing.
“The more I look at it, the more I see and the less I think I should be,” Ogle said.
Victoria University strategic studies director Peter Cozens said one of the first rules of military endeavour was to not give the opposition information that could compromise your position.
“This is just slack administrative procedures which are indeed a cause of embarrassment. It’s the sort of thing which ought not really be in the public domain, he said.
Ogle said the player never worked as a music player and he would hand it over to the US Defence Department if asked.
–The Age (Australia), January 26, 2009. See also, TVNZ story here.
As we remove our shoes and empty our toiletries into a bin at airport security, we might type a birthday note to John Baskerville, English printer and typefounder, who was born on this date in 1706. Among Baskerville’s publications in the British Museum’s collection are Aesop’s Fables (1761), the Bible (1763), and the works of Horace (1770). And as for his fonts, Baskerville’s creations (including the famous “Baskerville”) were so successful that his competitors resorted to claims that they damaged the eyes.
