White Matter

News Release

For immediate distribution to all media agencies

April 12 --- Spurious Developments, Inc. ("the Company") is a listed technology development company working in the field of neural imaging. The Company wishes to take this opportunity to correct certain misleading reports about its activities that have appeared in recent media coverage. Specifically, suggestions have been made that the Company is developing tools for coercing people through direct manipulation of their mental state.

While the Company understands the public interest in this matter and supports wholeheartedly public debate on the issues, it also wishes to make clear that these accusations are incorrect.

"We are engaged in research into diagnostic tools for mental illness. These are intended for passive scanning purposes only. Nothing in our technology portfolio is applicable to the creation of mind control devices," said Company spokesman, Lance Coriolis.

It has been estimated that mental illness affects as many as one in every five people at some stage in their lives. Despite this, and unlike the case with physical ailments, little fundamental progress has been made on identifying cures or even underlying causes. By opening a window on the mechanisms of mental illness, technology under development by the Company has the potential to usher in a new era in which mental disorders can be dealt with in much the same way as we are now able to diagnose and treat cancer.

"While we acknowledge the concerns of some commentators, we believe that any perceived risks that accompany our technology must be balanced against its huge potential benefits," said Mr Coriolis.

It should also be noted that the Company is a development organization and that commercialization of its technology is some years away, at the earliest. The Company believes that this provides ample time for public debate on the ethics of neural scanning.

Press Association Bulletin, April 14

Organised Crime Connections Alleged at Controversial High-Tech Start-up

Freedom of Opinion, a non-profit political organisation, today claimed that a parcel of shares in the company Spurious Developments, Inc. is owned by figures with links to an organised crime syndicate. Spurious Developments has been a subject of recent press reports due to public accusations by Freedom of Opinion and other left-wing political groups that the company is developing technology for capturing and recording people's thoughts, and that this poses a potential threat to personal privacy and political dissent. Opposition has included the staging of protests at the company headquarters.

Spurious Developments issued a statement in response, saying, "The makeup of our share register is a matter of public record and the company is fully compliant with all disclosure regulations. The share parcel in question was acquired in a third-party transaction over which the company had no control. We also wish to make clear that this is a small minority stake and that the owners of the shares have no involvement in the day-to-day operations of Spurious Developments, Inc."