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Privacy Encryption Graphics Security Software

ASCII Art Steganography 120

bigearcow writes "ASCII art is nothing new, but this site takes it one step further by allowing you to embed another data file within the image. The resulting ASCII art remains printable (i.e. no special unicode symbols) — this means you can print the image out, hang it on your wall, and have it look like an innocent ASCII art when it's hiding a secret document of your choice." You'll need a small (200x200 pixel max) base image from which the ASCII art will be built.
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ASCII Art Steganography

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2009 @04:56AM (#26414575)

    google has been slashdotted.. well only that users app, but still, slashdot > google ;-)

    "App Engine Error

            Over Quota
            This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later. "

    Though it is intermittent.

  • Meh (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2009 @05:08AM (#26414623)

    I'm SO going to store the Wikipedia article on Linux underneath Windows' logo. *maniacal laugh*

  • Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by m0i ( 192134 ) on Monday January 12, 2009 @05:52AM (#26414795) Homepage

    Behold Cloud Computing! Fast, Efficient, Scalab.. errr--hold that thought.

    It does if you can justify the need to Google, for now they have quotas (see http://code.google.com/intl/fr/appengine/articles/quotas.html [google.com]).

  • Re:Huh? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by HonestButCurious ( 1306021 ) on Monday January 12, 2009 @06:49AM (#26415025) Journal

    The App Engine cluster is not just a big dump truck of cycles you dip into on demand. The processing power is quantized into discrete machines. There's actually a nice scheduler there that checks how busy your app is and assigns new processors to handle it. This isn't a real-time process so there are transient periods with overload. On the long run, GAE will scale fine.

    There are some nice vids about the architecture on the Google developer youtube channels.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2009 @06:51AM (#26415033)

    Algorithm 1 is used to transform an input (image) into an output (ascii art).
    Algorithm 2 is used to modify the output of the first algorithm according to a pattern. The pattern is the data file encoded.
    By seeing how the actual output deviates from the output that would have resulted if only algorithm 1 was used, and knowledge of algorithm 2, the pattern can be deduced.

    This is really no different from hiding anything within anything. If you had an algorithm that converted spreadsheets to well-sounding MP3 files that it was possible to hide goat porn in, it would work according to the same principle. Although this is a slick implementation.

  • Sorted words (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cornicefire ( 610241 ) on Monday January 12, 2009 @09:12AM (#26415721)
    I've always liked the way to hide information in a list of things. Peter Wayner wrote a Java thingee that starts with a list of top disco songs. [wayner.org] Talk about ambiguous. Any order would make sense. But you can use any list. Here's my favorites: Barry White: Barry White's Greatest Hits (20th Century, 1975) KC & The Sunshine Band: KC & The Sunshine Band (TK, 1975) Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie: Hot Butterfly (Polydor, 1978) The Jimmy Castor Bunch: Butt Of Course (Atlantic, 1974) Silver Convention: Save Me (Midland International, 1975) Voyage: Voyage; Fly Away (Marlin, 1978) First Choice: Delusions (Gold Mind, 1977) Beautiful Bend: Beautiful Bend (Marlin, 1978) Candi Staton: Young Hearts Run Free (Warner Bros., 1976) Loleatta Holloway: Loleatta (Gold Mind/Salsoul, 1976) Trammps: The Trammps (Golden Fleece/CBS, 1975) Giorgio Moroder: From Here to Eternity (Casablanca, 1985) Cerrone: Love In C Minor (Cotillion, 1977) Santa Esmeralda: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Casablanca, 1977) Chic: Chic (Atlantic, 1977) Taana Gardner: Taana Gardner (West End, 1979) LaBelle: Nightbirds (Epic, 1974) B.T. Express: Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) (Roadshow, 1974) Salsoul Orchestra: The Salsoul Orchestra (Salsoul, 1975) Michael Zager Band: Let's All Chant (Private Stock, 1977) Donna Summer: The Donna Summer Anthology (Casablanca/Chronicles, 1993) Linda Clifford: If My Friends Could See Me Now (Curtom, 1978) Direct Current: Direct Current (TEC Records, 1979) Cloud One: Atmosphere Strutt (P&P, 1976) Gloria Gaynor: Never Can Say Goodbye (MGM, 1975) Kano: Kano (Emergency, 1980) France Joli: France Joli (Prelude, 1979) Village People: Village People (Casablanca, 1977) Diana Ross: The Boss (Motown, 1979) Tantra: The Double Album (Importe/12, 1980) Cerrone: Cerrone 3 - Supernature (Cotillion, 1978) Hamilton Bohannon: Summertime Groove (Mercury, 1978) Love And Kisses: Love And Kisses (Casablanca, 1977) Ashford & Simpson: So So Satisfied; Send It (Warner Bros., 1977) Isaac Hayes: Chocolate Chip (HBS, 1975) Love Unlimited: Under The Influence Of . . . (20th Century, 1973) Disco-Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes: Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes (Chelsea, 1975) Kool & The Gang: Wild And Peaceful (De-Lite, 1973) Sister Sledge: We Are Family (Cotillion, 1979) Sylvester: Step II (Fantasy, 1978) Change: The Glow Of Love (Warner Bros./RFC, 1980) Sister Sledge: Circle Of Love (Cotillion, 1975) Grace Jones: Portfolio (Island, 1977)
  • Re:Sorted words (Score:3, Interesting)

    by peterwayner ( 266189 ) * <p3NO@SPAMwayner.org> on Monday January 12, 2009 @09:19AM (#26415779) Homepage

    For more information, you can find the Table of Contents, FAQ and a few other case studies at my site. [wayner.org]

    The Third edition of the book just came out. I think Amazon just got their copies from the printer. [amazon.com]

     

  • OOOOLLLLLDDD (Score:2, Interesting)

    by drmitch ( 1065012 ) on Monday January 12, 2009 @10:40AM (#26416587)
    There have been console programs for *nix that do this for YEARS!

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