From Steganography to Staganography -- hiding text in nudie pics

From our Creative Visual Arts series

First off, an apology. The latest tweet of TheEditor told our readers that analyzing the images to be used in the post was taking longer than expected.

We hit a snag.

We noticed the intern was doing the job manually and had worked up quite a sweat. This triggered our Ebola quarantine protocol, which we took from an interweb article that described how the governor of New Jersey pitched a tent for a nurse.*

Long story short, there won't be sample photos attached to this post.

There is a wide variety of web sites where you can get nudie pics free for non-commercial use, maybe [it really has what the name implies, unlike most web sites] yourdicklooksgreatinthoseheels dot com is a good start.

In addition to nudie pics, you need a hiding tool, for example the one we described in this earlier post.

In the two earlier posts about hiding text and photos inside photos, we had a specific target audience, grandma.

During a recent editorial conference of the multiple personalities at the K-Landnews, someone complained about this limited audience, so we decided to add a post for the younger generation, specifically our uncle Sam and aunt Marianne.

Halloween is a great opportunity to try out your new staganography** communication.
If you get a substantial collection, maybe a museum will do an exhibit one of these days.

For the privacy minded, you can, of course, encrypt the pictures before sending them. However, if you do this, you might deprive an intelligence analyst somewhere of a bright moment in a tedious work day. 

A couple more tips for image choices.

Image selection should take into account the impression you would like to make on a human analyst if your steganographic picture ever gets this extreme level of attention.

As a resident of, say, China, you might want to use carrier images that show all the glory and achievement of the wonderful, caring party. As an American, you have a wide selection of patriotic themed free photos to choose from on the web.

Your work could inform image choices, such as gorgeous Hubble space telescope photos, fashion pics, meals, construction equipment and so on.

Or take some related to a hobby. You won't believe how many royalty free photos of wide mouth bass are out there.

One more word on nudes or outright porn: make sure any such images are legal under the domestic laws of your country.

Enjoy, and don't forget, if enough people do this, many an intelligence analyst will sooner or later be asked by friends and family how much porn they watched that day in the name of keeping us all safe.


* Note: We hear he didn't pitch it himself. He's, like, a big guy and had the tent pitched by experts.

** Made up from "stag", "steganography" & "pornography".  We have not tm-d or copyrighted the term, you can freely use it. The male "stag" is used because most IT guys are, well, guys, and we couldn't figure out a gender neutral funny term.