27 Central Banks Push Anti-Counterfeit Software 400
securitas writes "GlobeTechnology reports that the 27-member Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group is behind the anti-counterfeit software in Adobe Photoshop CS, Ulead PhotoImpact, Jasc Paint Shop Pro and others. Consortium members of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group include the USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia and many more. Law enforcement agencies and banknote-issuing authorities say that it is a response to the rapid growth of digital counterfeiting. The software is distributed free of charge to hardware and software manufacturers and is voluntary to use. But the European Union is drafting legislation to force manufacturers to include anti-counterfeit measures in all systems, scanners or printers sold in Europe. Counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting with Adobe Photoshop and other products like inkjet printers have been the subject of recent discussion on Slashdot."
Help (Score:5, Funny)
WANTED TO BUY:
1x Adobe Photoshop version
up to but not including CS.
1x High quality inkjet printer,
2002-2003 vintage
Will pay cash.
Re:Help (Score:5, Funny)
Will pay cash 1 week after delivery.
you forgot something... (Score:5, Funny)
News broadcast: a man was caught trying to pass off counterfeit $20 bills at the candy store. The store owner got suspicious when he noticed none of the colours stayed within the lines. When questioned, he responded: "I guess I feathered my alpha mask too much."
Don't force criminals to be dishonest! (Score:5, Insightful)
If legal copies of Photoshop don't work, criminals will only have pirated copies. Wow, big cultural shift there. Think of the awesome deterrent power of that law. Think of all those would-be counterfeiters who will say, "I'll steal from people I don't know, but I would never steal from Adobe."
I often think that only skilled programmers should be allowed to make laws. Those who are making laws now are so illogical that they would never have run-time bugs because they would never get anything to compile.
If you spend several years writing complex programs and debugging them, you develop respect for your own imperfect logic, and for the need to check your work, 90 or 900 times if needed. You develop respect for logic itself, and for the operation of your brain.
Many people become lawmakers because they are somewhat popular, and got elected, only that. For some of them, if clicking on File/Save causes the program to exit, that's okay. It's better not to spend too much time thinking.
You don't need photoshop at all. (Score:4, Funny)
The bills don't even have to be perfect. You can even use a carat to change the phrase "This note is legal tender" to "This note is ^not legal tender" and the phrase "Federal Reserve Bank" to "Federal Express Banc" and the phrase "United States of America" to "Untied States of Vespucia".
You could put a portrait of "George Bush" or even "Alfred E. Newman" on the bill and/or change the denomination to $3.14, you could change the Secretary of the Treasury's signature to 'Pee Wee Herman'.
Then you would have a bill that could be fired out of the back of your getaway van in a crowded place to distract the mobs of people into picking up bills blocking the way of the persuing police. Or just drop them on the trading floor of the NYSE...
What's the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
Afterall, those who want to photograph money for inclusion in a poster or such in compliance with the too big, too small or other clearly-wrong copy rules spelled out in the law can still do so optically. Making images of money shouldn't be as easy as technology has made making images of everything else.
Re:What's the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd still like to see how someone would go about copying transparent sections of notes, other than cutting a section out and using stickytape (which I've heard has been tried) that looks obviously dodgy.
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Informative)
this brings up a very good point, though: the only true way to prevent counterfeiting is to have the legitimate currency producer have exclusive and restricted access to the materials required to mint money, those being:
- paper
- ink
if the paper and ink are noticably unique to money and access to those materials is restricted to the minter, counterfeiters are out of luck - no mater what software they have.i should note that in canada the new $100 bill really stresses unique inks as an anti-counterfeit measure - there's translucent printing, a holographic stripe and some funky watermarks. read up on it here [thestar.com].
even my city's municipal currency [calgarydollars.ca] (a local "barter" currency) uses this crazy plasticized paper that is custom designed for printing money and is only sold to legit minters.
so, go ahead and get that old version of photoshop and yr swank inkjet... it won't do you any good if you want to make canadian $100's or calgary $1's!
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
One solution would to go back to using coins made of precious metal, preferably where the value of the metal is close to the face value of the coin. Of course, governments hate this idea, as it destroys thier ability to conjure money from thin air. Gold coin is also impractical for large transactions, which is one of the main reasons we started using paper m
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
The old "Make it idiot-proof ... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Solution: purely electronic money (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Constantly checking for counterfeits steals processing power that I should be able to use for things I want my PC to do.
The software is never going to be perfect, either. What recourse do I have if I'm designing something that looks enough like currency to trigger it, but actually has a legitimate purpose (e.g. a prop for a film)?
Finally, it's just another symptom of the nanny-state mentality that is pervading modern society. I shouldn't have automated systems watching over my every move to make sure I'm not doing anything unfavourable.
Re:What's the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
We are all subversives until proven otherwise...
Nanny-State Mentality (Score:5, Insightful)
The nanny-state mentality (nice phrase) isn't peculiar to modern society -- it's common throughout history.
Check out, for example, the history of sumptuary laws [google.com]
On the balance, the nanny state has been the historical norm; widespread respect for individual initiative is a relatively recent phenomenon.
-kgj
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Interesting)
Especially if they 'enhance' the current method.
As I understand it, there is a pattern of circles on the currency, and the software checks for this.
If the bill is scanned or printed slightly offset from straight up and down (I've heard that just 1 degree can do the trick) then the pattern matching doesn't work and the bill is scanned/printed.
For them to fix this, they would need to check each increment of rotation for those circles.
I can see that taking quite some time...
(Better luck next time, guys!)
Re:Rotation of Eurion (Score:3, Funny)
Well... To be honest?
Yeah, I do.
Photoshop has many reports of small rotations causing the currency to be scanned. I dunno about the printing though.
(I havn't tested it, so this could all be rubbish)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because devices (hardware and software) that I buy and pay for should be working for me, not the government. My computer's CPU cycles should not be utilized against my will to ensure that I am complying with the law. Let the Secret Service buy computers to do their work, and let me use my computers to do my work.
Oh well (Score:5, Funny)
Download some (Score:3, Interesting)
Counterfeits (Score:4, Funny)
gimp and sane illegal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:4, Insightful)
You'd want to hope by "scanners" they meant the hardware. If the hardware (or at least the firmware within) incorporates the feature, only hacking that firmware would remove the "feature." The last thing we'd want to see is someone having to write a patch to GIMP to implement this useless feature.
But since this is happening in the EU, this begs a question... how does the machine know it's money? The colour? Certainly not the pictures since I'm led to believe each EU country has a different picture on it.
One thing's for sure, anyway. In the EU, settling on a specific, single picture per note would do more to prevent counterfeiting than preventing a few pieces of scanner hardware from working.
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:4, Informative)
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:4, Insightful)
If you ban a technology, only criminals will use it. If you ban a popular technology, you turn most of the population into criminals.
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:5, Informative)
The software looks at 5 dots appearing (multiple times) on every money used in the EU.
There was even a link to a pdf file [cam.ac.uk].
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:4, Informative)
This came up lst time this was asked here. The detection is based on a pattern of circles, hidden/featured in most notes of most currencies.
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:5, Funny)
No problem, will just scan it and throw up a link for you...Oh, nevermind.
note: All is to be taken sarcastically [reference.com]
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:3, Informative)
Re:gimp and sane illegal (Score:3, Insightful)
There is. [bundesbank.de] It is just not the highest authority any more in the genaral fiscal matters. In the Euro countries, all national central banks still exist. Part of their responsibilities [bundesbank.de] is to manage the currency supply of their respective countries. The directors of the national central banks also form the board of directors of the European Central bank.
That is, at the moment, for each value of coin (from 1 cent to 2 Euros) there are 12 different types.
What happens to open source image software? (Score:5, Interesting)
Therefore, I wonder how the central banks of the world are going to implement this in OSS image editors. Afterall, something commented as "//This is where we put the part that stops people trying to open images of money." is gonna be rather easy bypass, and would also require them to define all of the tricks they're using to identify bills in other software too or let some of those checks slide.
Re:What happens to open source image software? (Score:3, Interesting)
Therefore, I wonder how the central banks of the world are going to implement this in OSS image editors.
They won't have to. They're incorporating the technology directly in the printers. It may be a while before we see opensource firmware for printers.
Re:What happens to open source image software? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oh, get real (Score:3, Insightful)
There will be conflicts ahead, of course, and not just on this counterfeiting issue. Another that's already threatening, here in the U.S., is the broadcast flag for digital television. That seems equally incompatible with open source.
It will be, ah, interesting to see how this plays out in the next few years.
Open Source and government mandates (Score:3, Insightful)
It could be, or not. If the open source program respects the flag, the vast majority of people won't modify and recompile it. Look at xpdf, which respects the anti-copying flags of Adobe. If it's illegal to distribute the "hacked" version, a vanishingly small percentage of users will have it.
So it could be used as an argument against open source, but it's a disingenuous argument. A few people might hack their TV app, just like a few people might rip out
Re:What happens to open source image software? (Score:5, Funny)
Safe as houses!
-- John.
the gimp (Score:4, Funny)
Heh (Score:5, Interesting)
Heh, not that the Photoshop effort was effective--all you need to do is search the applications section of suprnova.org [213.158.116.15] to find "banknote patch Photoshop CS." [213.158.116.18]
Won't stop the big crooks, but - (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem of course is that _sometimes_ it gets in the way of legitimate uses of digital technology. This is an example of one idiot ruining it for everyone. Life's like that. I pay high car insurance premiums because other people are stupid/lazy/drunk/asleep, even though I'm not.
Yeah, it's annoying, but that's life. It would just be nice if the companies would be more up-front about it. Good on Adobe for coming clean; but they needn't have denied it in the first place!
Great Idea... (Score:5, Funny)
Dare I suggest... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a never ending game. As E. E. Smith said, what physical science can devise, physical science can analyse and reproduce. We just have to keep moving the bar higher than the counterfeiters can easily reach. If the typical US bank note is too easily copied by technology available to the home user, then it's time for the typical US bank note to be updated. Not for the technology to be crippled...
Re:Dare I suggest... (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh my God, you're speaking the truth! There's a reason why the U.S. dollar is so favorable to people outside of the country.. well two reasons, actually. 1. The currency value is (relatively) stable. 2. The bill is SO easy to counterfeit compared to even the currency of third world countries. I'd just love to see someone try to print out a convincing counterfeit Thai note on their
Re:Dare I suggest... (Score:5, Informative)
frequent redesign leading to unfamilar notes? (Score:4, Funny)
Xix.
Re:Dare I suggest... (Score:5, Informative)
- The watermark - the faint image similar to the large portrait, which is part of the paper itself and is visible from both sides when held up to the light.
- The security thread - also visible from both sides when held up to the light, this vertical strip of plastic is embedded in the paper. "USA TWENTY" and a small flag are visible along the thread.
- The color-shifting ink - the numeral "20" in the lower-right corner on the face of the note changes from copper to green when the note is tilted. The color shift is more dramatic and easier to see on the new-design notes.
All three are useful anti-counterfeiting measures; there's no disputing that. However, if you look at Australia's techniques, there are two levels of protection: the blatently obvious, and the more subtle.What do I mean by that? Well, the clear window is "blatently obvious". You see it, and it's immediately obvious that it's meant to be there; it's part of the design of the note. As you encounter more notes, you come to realise that it's seamless; it "feels" no different to the rest of the note. So when Joe Blow comes up to you and offers you a note with a window that doesn't quite fit, you quickly realise that it can't be a real note -- it has to be a fake. Anybody -- from any country -- should be able to pick up on that without too much trouble.
The more subtle things are things like the tiny writing (saying, for example, "FIFTY DOLLARS"); the seven point star that reveals itself only when you hold the note up to the light; that sort of thing. The seven point star actually is somewhere between "ultra subtle" and "obvious" -- looking at the note, it can be noticed without too much difficulty if you're observant.
I guess I'm saying that, to me at least, the new US $20 note doesn't follow what appears to be world's best practice, whilst the Australian note does. It's an improvement, yes, but it doesn't go as far as it could, and arguably, should. The more a currency is liable to be forged, the less value it will have in the long run, as nobody can trust the notes.
Just some random thoughts, is all.
The other thing is: to the best of my knowledge, Australia has had only two note designs in the period of decimal currency. The switch to plastic notes was well publicised, and started with the high value (and hence more often forged) notes, progressively replacing every note down to the five dollar (our two and one dollar denominations are coins these days, not notes). As xixax implies, redesigning your notes on a regular basis is not the best way to keep your currency safe from counterfeiting; in that sense, you are better off doing a major, major, MAJOR upgrade every, say, fifty years or so, rather than a string of minor upgrades every five or ten years. This sort of change to the US currency seems to me to be a minor revision, not a major overhaul...
Re:Dare I suggest... (Score:5, Funny)
Top 5 reasons for going from boring monochrome paper to plastic colourful money:
1) it lasts a lot longer for notes that change hands a lot - a $5.00 paper note would get chewed up in something like 6 months, but the plastic vertions lasts a lot longer before it has to be replaced.
2) you never get a nasty crumpled greasy dirty note - the plastic notes are all but impossible to crease and don't retain dirt etc. nearly as well as paper.
3) we love the beach - and paper money generally doesnt. With the plastic notes you can go for a surf with the money to buy your lunch in your boardies, without having to take a wallet & leave it on the beach.
4) you can put the notes in the oven to shrink them down & make fun keyring tags ( actually I think that only worked with the first plastic notes - and I don't endorse defacing currency)
5) It was a great excuse to get republicly minded and replace the Queen's head with a bunch of other people no-one knows (but should).
6) Tourists (especially Americans who are used to all money being green) can't help but think of it as monopoly money ( because of all the pretty colors) and spend it accordingly.
7) All the pretty colors help in identification to prevent you buying a $100 kebab after a beery night out.
8) you can sticky tape two $100 notes together and make a cheezy pair of "$200" shades with the little plastic windows.
9)even the dodgiest back street dealers warez dealers take "plastic money"
10) it has a tendancy to stop filthy rich bastards lighting their cigars off $100 notes. I don't think it's absorbtive qualities are too good either, for any other mis-uses that might tempt the overly rich.
Good and Bad (Score:5, Insightful)
What is the real problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
The counterfeiters who are truly making a dent in the money supply don't use Photoshop, though. For the most part, they have real drum printers and very sophisticated printing plates. They are printing money onto real fiber paper. They certainly aren't printing bills out on their Epson Deskjet onto White Shark recycled office paper.
At the extremely low level of low-cost counterfeiting which these software controls attempt to prevent, there simply isn't enough money being produced to worry about. The guy in his basement printing maybe a hundred thousand dollars a day out of his inkjet printer can only use so much of that before getting red flagged by some clerk who notices that his $100 bill isn't quite right (usually because the paper is different).
These software controls don't do anything to attack the real problem of counterfeiters who are doing the real damage printing millions of dollars which are indistinguishable from real money.
Re:What is the real problem? (Score:3, Funny)
good reason for this? (Score:2, Insightful)
how many times does the shopkeeper in a gas station look so carefully on the notes you pass on to him?
so maybe, just maybe, this kind of Anti-Counterfeit measure is enough to put a lot of people off that wishful thinking.
Genuine question. (Score:5, Insightful)
For me, that means two things
1) if you want to do some parody bill, well, you'll still can, you'll just have to make sure that even from far it looks like parody.
2) 15 years old kids that get drunk for the first time and think that it is a good idea to make some cheap bill to get that coke free won't go 15 years in jail.
This thing just means that if you want to make false money, you'll have to dig a little bit. And if you do, it's clear that you wanted to counterfeit, and you'll go to jail. On the other hand, some kid won't be able to pool a cheap prank that can get him in serious troubles. Good chances are that he'll think "hey, if i've got to go to www.falsemoney.ze, maybe the police/secret service/whatever will notice, so maybe I shouldn't".
Remember, this thing is not, has never been, and will never be to deter mafias from counterfeiting. It's just to make it hard enough for Joe Schmoe that he has to think about his actions, and then decide that it would be stupid to risk 15 years for a prank.
Re:Genuine question. (Score:3, Insightful)
Today it's currency. Tomorrow it's anything with the Disney digital watermark. Or Playboy. Next it's illegal to sell hardware or software without this DRM. No need to make it illegal to own or make, it'll just be practically impossible for most people to avoid.
Of course, criminals will still counterfeit and copy whatever they want; it's "users", or as they prefer to call us, "consumers", who will lose out.
Re:Genuine question. (Score:3, Interesting)
My friend (who had no financial need to produce currency) decided on a mission, to knock off a bill. He shopped the paper, practiced justification time after time. The rejects hit the trash.
Forward 2 months and there's
completely voluntary... (Score:3, Insightful)
Funny how the word voluntary seems to be changing of late.
Re:completely voluntary... (Score:5, Informative)
MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Informative)
Trimming the edges (Score:5, Interesting)
This won't prevent professional criminals from counterfeiting. At least they stated it correctly by saying "would-be counterfeiters". Still, someone with enough ambition and the resources and/or knowledge will still find a way. I'm simply stating the obvious here though.
I am curious though as to how the software prevents counterfeiting. I thought maybe one possibility was comparing a picture with data of an actual bill, but that would mean having data in the software that contained information of the real bill which presents a problem. If anyone has any ideas or information, please share.
Personally, I see major shifts in this area within the next few decades. Improved bills? Increase in amount of counterfeiting equipment? Some sort of digital verification system? Just some ideas.
Also, what about open source software?
Re:Trimming the edges (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Trimming the edges (Score:5, Informative)
You're right. It's called the Eurion Constellation [cam.ac.uk].
legislated software features?? (Score:5, Insightful)
on the bright side (Score:5, Funny)
I've seen software add watermarks to images (Score:5, Interesting)
I kept trying to change the pixels back and re-save the image, and whenever I saved the image, the mysterious watermark pixels would re-appear.
I think I switched to something more primitive like MS Paint (eep) to workaround the problem.
--LP
Re:I've seen software add watermarks to images (Score:3, Informative)
Why this is a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Can't we just go cashless? (Score:5, Interesting)
So, the question is - don't you all think it will come down to point where the Government issues cash cards?
It saves them money (vs printing money) AND It (should) be harder to conterfeit than paper money (e.g. cryptologically secure).
It will piss off the credit card companies, but wouldn't it be a solution?
Along these lines - would coins be any harder to fake? I wouldn't mind carrying more change, if, say $20 coins were the size of dimes...
It goes without saying, that I wouldn't buy such a card if it weren't anonymous...
Post-Government Cash Cards (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it's more likely that government as we know it will fail altogether, and credit card companies will step in to fill the void.
-kgj
Open Source Firmware (Score:5, Insightful)
For example, with a printer, something along the lines of a microcontroller (running embedded linux) which connects to the print head, print head drive circuits and paper drive circuits. The existing printer is used only toprovide a mechanical chassis.
It might even make financial sense. Buy that entry level printer, which uses similar mechanical components to that high end printer, and end up with an 'open source' solution that exceeds the capabilities of the high end printer but costs less. Alternatively, don't throw out that obsolete printer but reuse the chassis and convert it into a state-of-the-art printer.
here's the funny thing (Score:5, Interesting)
Face it, maybe
Now, the scary thing is, what do you wanna be that these "image recognition" techniques are being patented, marketed, and sold. Imagine not being able to scan in somethign from a magazine or book because it has a code on it marking it as copyrighted. After all, if you were going to scan it in, you were *obviously* going to do something bad, like make an illegal copy! That's where I see this going: sort of a drm thats built into scanners, printers, and image software!
Can't We Do Better Than Franklin? (Score:3, Interesting)
This mentality of "kick the people" has gone on for way to long. Are we not capable of outdoing Benjimam Franklin [about.com]? He is the one who invented paper currency to begin with.
Funny that all he did was put to use the printing press, an invention which has been around since 1440 [about.com] to make these bank notes with. Sort of ironic that he made the money hmself with a press he owned... whooda thunk that people could counterfeit money with printing presses and printers?!?!? So now that printing capabilities a mere 200 years later are more advanced, do you think it's time we look for new ways to produce paper currency? Or should we just start walking backwards down the path of personal empowerment because the tech has gotten too powerful?
Re:Can't We Do Better Than Franklin? (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed, the main anger at the Stamp Act in the American colonies was because it required payment in hard coinage, and most people didn't have hard currency, not so much as a penny.
A brief history of paper money [moneymuseum.com]
KFG
Re:Can't We Do Better Than Franklin? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Can't We Do Better Than Franklin? (Score:3, Insightful)
The barter system. Yes, it's as old as time but it still works very well. It's secure, simple, and really nearly eliminates the class system our entire society is based on. Even B2B transactions can be done in barter (American, Continental, and a few other airlines do this routinely as well as most of the Fortune 500). One of the nice things is that, with barter, ANY product is within ANYONE'S reach. It just becomes a matter of connecting buyer and seller.
Re:Can't We Do Better Than Franklin? (Score:4, Informative)
No, actually the reason cash replaced barter is precisely because barter doesn't work very well in complex societies built on specialization and division of labor. Any time I have something you want, but you don't have anything I want, bartering quickly devolves into an absurdly complex multilateral negotiation. General_re grows corn. CaptainTux keeps hogs and would like the corn for pig feed. But general_re doesn't want hogs - he wants a new tractor. Mr. X has tractors, but he doesn't want corn or hogs - he wants a laborer to help him make tractors.
And so forth. Much easier to simply agree in advance on a medium of exchange. CaptainTux gives general_re cash in exchange for corn, general_re exchanges cash for a tractor, and Mr. X exchanges cash for the services of a tractor assembler. It's all faster and easier that way, because it can all be done in a series of one-on-one exchanges - we no longer have to convene a roundtable discussion, where every single party sits down at the same time and negotiates an arrangement that satisfies everyone.
Re:Can't We Do Better Than Franklin? (Score:4, Informative)
What CS really means... (Score:3, Funny)
Irony. (Score:3, Funny)
Their title (my bolding): "Central banks hope free software will put a dent in counterfeiting"
And then they mention Adobe Photoshop and Ulead PhotoImpact. Earth to the Globe?
Well ... local to my area ... (Score:3, Interesting)
You know ... I'm really suprised that people still try to make counterfeit money since the penalties are so stiff, and usually are crappy copies.
I think that a credit/debit cards are the future, and that physical money is on the way out. However, that smacks against my privacy ... since it would be tracable.
The problem is that there is no good ANONYMOUS way to purchase things without currency.
Hack (Score:3, Informative)
Thwarting Conterfeiters (Score:5, Informative)
These plastic notes are physically colored and include clear sections, as opposed to being blank paper with colors printed on them.
One of the other reasons was the durability of the notes.
Oddly enough, when they first came out many people tried to IRON them to remove the wrinkles (they take hard creases very easily) - evey seen a shrinky-dink after it's been baked?
what would be the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Old Measures (Score:5, Interesting)
I actually saw these devices as marketshare protection devices. My company and its handful of competitors were rapidly having the marketshare for high quality printing eaten away by good commercial printers. The marketing department may have made all sorts of blather about "finer attention to detail" and "knowing the banking industry" but the process of MICR printing on 2400dpi presses from Macs using Adobe Illustrator could honestly have been done by anyone willing to follow standards.
But it would have been a bit of a problem if this low-end competition were trying to output a check prototype with a watermark, color wash, and elaborate border that continuously set off their anti-counterfieting software. The high end check and document printing business wasn't a monopoly, but I strongly suspect that these were devices strongly desired by every player in the market to keep the sellers from expanding.
Are these measures the same way? They surely sound motivated by similar private market interests.
The Real Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Soon everyone and their brother will start printing the Constellation onto whatever they feel needs "copy protection." You'll see it printed on photographs and forms and all kinds of junk. Regular people will have their right to make copies and the ability to use their own equipment usurped by others abusing a mechanism that was only supposed to inconvenience counterfeiters.
Re:The Real Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
This will essentially be free copy protection which may someday be ubiquitously enforced in all hardware and with the backing of law. And it will be law based upon fraud and counterfeiting, rather than copyright law. So what few "freedom" holes are left in the DMCA and its like will now be plugged up by anti-counterfeit laws. If laws are created (and they WILL come), are we going to have equivalent circumvention exemptions?
In fact I thought I had heard someplace that these anti-copying patterns were already being discovered in certain print publications. Even if laws aren't passed, there is nothing to stop the damage possible now. The hardware and software is already in place in the hand of the unsuspecting public.
The real counterfeiters are using printing presses (Score:5, Interesting)
Simple process, photograph the bill, do your color separations in an older version of photoshop, etc; then burn plates from the color seperated negatives. Better yet, bypass photoshop completely and take several photographs of the bill using different filters over the lens to directly produce your color seperated negatives.
The fact of the matter is that the "big boys" in counterfeiting are NOT using a $50.00 scanner and a $19.99 inkjet printer.
Re:The real counterfeiters are using printing pres (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps the problem they are facing is that a few big boys are being joined by lots of little boys?
If there's a will, there's a way (Score:4, Insightful)
People have a right to use software that does not impose arbitrary restrictions upon them. When Adobe has a virtual monopoly on the image editing market (because their software is really freakin' good), it is in their best interest not to alter the software in such a way that pisses off their customers.
Both Adobe and the Government need to learn a lesson from the recording industry: don't alienate the consumers by adding "features" that restrict their personal rights. Uncle Sam does not need to get involved in this process; what he should do instead is invest more energy into training cashiers pens that change color on fake money, and train cashiers better on how to spot fakes.
Does someone have a good image of the key pattern? (Score:3, Interesting)
It would make sense in printers. (Score:4, Insightful)
But what about scanners and editing software? Bullshit. I scan in $1 to paste my face in and morph it to pink. How illegal is that? I want to include a pile of bills in a clipart I create. I want to create textures for a game I write. I can't, because the data - before being processed - is considered "intended for illegal use". That's complete bullshit. Scanners and image processing software are no place for anti-counterfeiting measures.
It's like I approach a military base and put a film in my camera. I get arrested for taking photos of military objects, even though I didn't even aim my camera at them, and never intended to.
1984 approaching (Score:4, Interesting)
Btw did any of these fuckwit DRM mandating freaks think about how they are possibly going to make this work with currency accross the world and how it will work when a country needs to change a note for whatever reason??
Doesn't seem to be implemented on OS X.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Just add the mark to all your pictures (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:If I've learned nothing else in 20+ years of le (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Stupid Journalists... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stupid Journalists... (Score:3, Insightful)
Or someone who rips a CD.
Or copies an unprotected propriatary file.
Mere use of a computer is not hacking.
The correct term for the people in this case is "counterfeiter."
KFG