Almost as much fraustration that occurs through the incorrect usage of any terminology is the assumption (generally by the North Americans, but also from non-USA residents) is the assumption that everyone knows every abbreviation/accronym for each of the USA states. This does not exclude any other country/state/provice/county/etc. thats uses abbreviations/accronyms for places when communicating internationally.

To me, WI is West Indies, DE is the two letter country code of Deutchland (Germany), NE is North East (which ironically is central to the USA), DC is Direct Current and TX is a term generally used to denote transmission in two-way communication.
- Anti-flame disclaimer: I didn't intend for all those to be from the USA , they just happened to be the first few I thought of.

This problem is much wider than just the IT industry in the sense that America encompasses 30(?) countries through the two continents but is commonly used to refer to (specifically) the USA.

It seems that anyone without the knowledge of any abbreviation or accronym is likely to get it wrong from time to time but getting it wrong in context shows you up for being almost as ignorant as those that use the terms when communicating to an audience they suspect or know is unaware of their correct meaning.

Through my work I have come across a whole spectrum of "this sounds techie so I'll use it whenever I want to sound intelligent" terms by people who don't know what it means so end up using it in an incorrect context aswell as many people that do know what they mean and use the terms correctly.

The biggest problems I find come from advertisers that want their product to sound like the best option or through clever use of psychology and other social sciences to "empower" the consumer by using terms they have heard of in a manner that is not suitable or correct.

The only way the lay person will ever get their heads around the correct terms for the correct object or concept is for those that know to start educating them when they use it wrong, and for advertisers to be taught with a very heavy object if they don't cease and desist calling to the naivety of the general consumer.

And for those that insist on getting uptight and angry when being educated in a polite "that doesn't mean what you think it does" manner is to just let them continue sounding like a complete ignoranous infront of all their newly educated peers

So I wasn;t the only one that was thinking that. For us sceptics theres a few too many things that are a little vague for some serious consideration. I'd like to see the results with a desktop pc and monitor sat next to the keyboard emitting their interferance. That demonstration looks a little too sterile to prove that it is a practical attack against a standard machine. I'm not saying that its not possible, but cleaning the signal with the rest of the interference won't be as simple as grabbing the EM rad. and converting it back to a single ascii value - particularly on the cheap. When the van with the blacked out windows decides to spend a few days parked up outside my house, I may consider taking a few shielding precautions. Until then, its hardly an attack I shall fear.