[alt.security] Re: Color Copying Money

[Jyrki Kuoppala]

A repost from alt.security:

From: b...@woodruff.weru.ksu.edu (Bryan D. Nehl)
Subject: Re: Color Copying Money
Date: 12 May 93 16:47:38
Organization: BASH -- Bears Against Sober Hunters
Message-ID: <BDN.93Ma...@woodruff.weru.ksu.edu>
Reply-To: b...@chepil.weru.ksu.edu (Bryan Nehl)

I have heard that some copy machines, (canon, citizen?) are smart
enough to recognize that it is money, not copy it and they include an
invisible machine serial number on the output of every copy. I
believe I saw this one of the last three months issues of Computer
Shopper Magazine. Near the front. It was either that or Home Office
Computing.

/* === Bryan Nehl ========== kod...@Kodiakpc.Manhattan.KS.US =========+
[ USDA-ARS-NPA-WERU ][ b...@chepil.weru.ksu.edu ]
[ 913.532.6233 or 913.532.6495 ][ kod...@matt.ksu.ksu.edu ]
+_______________ ...!rutgers!matt.ksu.ksu.edu!kodiak _______________ */

[j...@afs.com]

One interesting aspect of using color copiers to counterfeit money-

The Canon copiers (and probably others) can be connected to computers to act
as color printers. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to write
a NeXTSTEP program that changes the serial numbers of the copied currency.

Specify a fill pattern, use a little anti-aliasing, maybe a postscript fill,
and you'd be all set.

I'm not sure you could use a color copier, though. The output I've seen was
very shiny. If there is a way to dull it, maybe, but I've never seen a really
shiny dollar bill.

[Bear Giles]

In article <1993May18.1...@linus.mitre.org> le...@aera8700.mitre.org (Keith Lewis) writes:
|In article <1993May17.1...@colorado.edu>, be...@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Bear Giles) writes:
|>True, but what do you think will happen if you make a color copy of
|>a color copy of a color copy of a color copy?
|
|Something like if you put a postage stamp over a postage stamp over a
|postage stamp. Only the last one would be readable, but that would be
|enough.

But you could have a dupe make the final copy, or find a public color
copier, or...

(BTW, I didn't make it clear but I meant different copiers in each
generation. The later copiers would be unrelated to the individual
wishing to protect his identity).

--
Bear Giles
be...@cs.colorado.edu/fsl.noaa.gov

[Todd Cooper]

I was working at a company (now noexistant) called Rise Technology when the
Canon Color copier was being developed. Rise did some of the algorithms that
Canon is now using in their copiers (as well as some hardware technology).

When Rise had the first Canon copier in the US, they had a visit by the US
Treasury Department to determine how well the copier could copy money.
--
+++++ Just leaving a boring signature. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Todd Cooper (todd%uvm...@merk.com uunet!merk.com!uvmark!todd)
Snail Mail: Vmark Software, 30 Speen Street, Framingham, MA 01701 USA