[LINK] Real use of flash drive lanyard

[Tom Worthington]

It was reported May 17, 2006  that a senior military officer left a 
confidential report on a CDROM in a computer at an airport lounge 
<http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/kovco-report-lost-and-leaked/2006/05/17/1147545379230.html>.

In response I wrote a spoof press release about a fictional product:

"... reinforced military specification  lanyard which can be attached 
to a flash drive, or other removable electronic memory device.  The 
other end ... is secured to the uniform of the personnel responsible 
for the information. ... will first provide a warning if the user 
attempts to leave their workstation without removing the flash drive. 
If the user ignores the warning, the ... will automatically eject the 
flash drive from the workstation and retract it onto the user's 
uniform. ..." <http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/link/2006-May/066731.html>.

It turns out that this is a real use. My brother, Dr. John 
Worthington, is an Educational Consultant and Psychologist dealing 
with children <http://www.jweducation.com/>. One problem is with some 
children leaving flash drives in PCs at school. So he suggested they 
be attached to a retractable reel, as used by staff for swipe cards 
<http://astore.amazon.com/usb-20/detail/B000MMOJUS/>. As in my spoof, 
the drive is tethered to the user. After a few weeks, the child gets 
into the habit of checking the flash drive before getting up and no 
longer needs the lanyard. Perhaps this would also work on military 
personnel, but they may still want a more military looking unit 
<http://astore.amazon.com/usb-20/detail/B000J4G75E/>.  ;-)



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                http://www.tomw.net.au/
Visiting Fellow, ANU      Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml