You Can Send Invisible Messages With Subtle Font Tweaks

If you're grasping for the deeper meaning of an essay or article, consider the possibility that it may not be in the words themselves, but hidden in the shape of the letters. It really could be the case, now that researchers from Columbia University have developed a method called FontCode, which plants data in text through tiny changes in how the letters are shaped. The method is a steganographic technique, meaning it hides secret information in plain sight such that only its intended recipient knows where to look for it and how to extract it. FontCode can be applied to hundreds of common fonts, like Helvetica or Times New Roman, and works in word processors like Microsoft Word. Data encoded with FontCode can also endure across any image-preserving digital format, like PDF or PNG. The secret data won't persist after, say, copy and pasting FontCode text between text editors.