Yes, change is now officially under investigation. But seriously, maybe you will think twice now before leaving coins sitting innocently in your car, or jingling in your pocket.

Breaking news from the AP that Canadian money can not be trusted:

Canada’s physically largest coins include its $2 “Toonie,” which is more than 1-inch across and thick enough to hide a tiny transmitter. The CIA has acknowledged its own spies have used hollow, U.S. silver-dollar coins to hide messages and film.

The government’s 29-page report was filled with other espionage warnings. It described unrelated hacker attacks, eavesdropping with miniature pen recorders and the case of a female foreign spy who seduced her American boyfriend to steal his computer passwords.

Er, make that US and Canadian money. And then there’s the related story that the Irish have found traces of cocaine in 100% of their euros while Spain apparently found 94%…

Wonder how much a spy coin costs to make and how many you’d have to give someone to ensure that they didn’t dispose of them all at the first Coffee stop?

UPDATED TO ADD (15 Jan 2007): Many comments on Bruce’s blog, including his, suggest this story is overblown. Even the US Govt is downplaying the story. Fair enough, the details are murky, but as I commented on Bruce’s blog, in theory the coin itself is unlikely to need to do more than ID someone/something in range of a transmitter. Thus someone carrying the coin can be detected entering a room, getting in a car, etc.. and is unlikely to suspect that the coin is the thing giving them away, or triggering a nearby device…