Title text:
Every weekend I take an ATV out into the desert and spend a day tracing a faint “© GOOGLE 2009” watermark across the landscape.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3173/
Title text:
Every weekend I take an ATV out into the desert and spend a day tracing a faint “© GOOGLE 2009” watermark across the landscape.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3173/
[off topic?]
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/ghost-army-canvas-and-camouflage
Basically, the Allied forces did exactly what the cartoon suggests. They created a ‘ghost army’ that confused the German observation planes.
Slightly different, but similar premise. Blatant (loud) concealment of something that isn’t actually a security risk is a honeypot tactic. False intel feeds are used in situations where you’re diverting resources away from the intended target of an operation, as opposed to spy-catching tactics like honeypots.
You sound like a fellow espionage geek.
Two recommendations.
TURN : George Washington’s Spies. Doesn’t turn away from things like Washington owning slaves and the British freeing them, and it has lots of cute tricks, like a one-man submarine and secret writing on egg shells. AMC show.
Any of the WW2 spy novels by Alan Furst. “Night Soldiers” is about a Bulgarian fisherman whose brother was killed by a Fascist mob. He gets recruited into the KGB and fights in Spain.