Photoshop etc. Cannot Print Money (NSR)

[Lane Meyer]

Sorry if this is a rerun, but this is totally amazing. Take a picture or scan of a new US$20 (or higher denom.), a Euro, etc. and when you open it in Photoshop, you won't be able to print it.

How the fuck do they DO that?!

from DPREview:
... although in the past its been used in many high-end printers to prevent an image of a bank note from being printed. No, its at the other end of the production. The software scans the image for a known pattern of dots, or circles in the following quote:

"The algorithm looks in the blue channel of a color image for little circles and most likely examines the distance distribution encountered. I have discovered a small constellation of just five circles (a bit like Orion with the belt starts merged) that will be rejected by a Xerox color photocopier installed next door from here as a banknote. Black on white circles do not work.

These little yellow, green or orange 1 mm large circles have been on European banknotes for many years. I found them on German marks, British pounds and the euro notes. In the US, they showed up only very recently on the new 20$ bill. On some notes like the euro, the circles are blatantly obvious, whereas on others the artists carefully integrated them into their design. On the 20 pound note, they appear as "notes" in an unlikely short music score, in the old German 50 mark note, they are neatly embedded into the background pattern, and in the new 20 dollar bill, they are used as the 0 of all the yellow 20 number printed across the note. The constellation are probably detected by the fact that the squares of the distances of the circles are integer multiples of the smallest one. I have later been told that this scheme was invented by Omron and that the circle patter also encodes the issuing bank. "
Its not new.
Mred32
-- Digital Photography Review Post

[Benny Profane]

You will also have serious problems attempting to copy paper money on a high resolution copier/scanner. If it's connected to a network, as most are, it will actually send out an alarm that this act is occuring. Welcome to the modern digital world, and be careful.

[Yossarian]

recently covered in the national news.

At some point in the distant past, the US Gov got the printing and copying and media vendors to imprint an ID in everything produced by their machines, to help anit-counterfeiting efforts. Why so surprised? No one wants THEIR brand to be the one used for criminal activity; Mericans are fairly deluded to the nature of the State we live in (hint: it's not actually a democracy, it a republic; and it's not even in the top 5 most democratic goverments in the world, according to a recent global study of constitutional law - source NPR); and the Gov no doubt can be fairly compelling when needed.

[meatdrink9]

Sorry if this is a rerun, but this is totally amazing. Take a picture or scan of a new US$20 (or higher denom.), a Euro, etc. and when you open it in Photoshop, you won't be able to print it.

How the fuck do they DO that?!

from DPREview:
... although in the past its been used in many high-end printers to prevent an image of a bank note from being printed. No, its at the other end of the production. The software scans the image for a known pattern of dots, or circles in the following quote:

"The algorithm looks in the blue channel of a color image for little circles and most likely examines the distance distribution encountered. I have discovered a small constellation of just five circles (a bit like Orion with the belt starts merged) that will be rejected by a Xerox color photocopier installed next door from here as a banknote. Black on white circles do not work.

These little yellow, green or orange 1 mm large circles have been on European banknotes for many years. I found them on German marks, British pounds and the euro notes. In the US, they showed up only very recently on the new 20$ bill. On some notes like the euro, the circles are blatantly obvious, whereas on others the artists carefully integrated them into their design. On the 20 pound note, they appear as "notes" in an unlikely short music score, in the old German 50 mark note, they are neatly embedded into the background pattern, and in the new 20 dollar bill, they are used as the 0 of all the yellow 20 number printed across the note. The constellation are probably detected by the fact that the squares of the distances of the circles are integer multiples of the smallest one. I have later been told that this scheme was invented by Omron and that the circle patter also encodes the issuing bank. "
Its not new.
Mred32
-- Digital Photography Review Post

I ran into something similar awhile back with a 100 dollar bill (needed for a casino client of ours). I'd scan the image and after the scan was complete it wouldn't transfer the image into photoshop. Instead it opened a web browser and took me to some government website. I was pretty blown away. I found a way around it by scanning the image in sections and then piecing it together in photoshop. I never had any problems printing any layouts with the money in the background.

[Lane Meyer]

Yeah, I figured you guys would substantiate this, I'm just pretty amazed by the "behind the scenes" technology...

[Snow Dog]

...it's not even in the top 5 most democratic goverments in the world, according to a recent global study of constitutional law - source NPR

Interesting but who's global study and who's number 1?

[jump]

This reminds me of the moron who printed money back in high school to buy lunch. After about two weeks he got caught, and during the next period a scene right out of hollywood developed as the black suburbans pulled up and bobby dissapeared.

[Spats]

Also remember that *every color laser printer made* prints a unique signature of tiny yellow dots on every page it prints. This is so the US government can track anything printed back to a specific printer: make, model, serial number, and all.

When was this done? Who approved this? No one. It was done in secret deals with printer manufacturers.

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/wp.php

Feeling scared yet? How about combining this with warranty records? Print anything that the government doesn't like, and there's a good chance they can trace it right back to where you live or work.

Big Brother is here, right now.

[Yossarian]

Interesting but who's global study and who's number 1?

uh, missed the whole interview, it was a bunch of international constitutional law scholars, surveying various constitutions for legal capture of democratic principles...

sweden and norway were near the top of the list, australia and new zealand ranked high, canada as well

[Blurred]

Even if you could, money isn't printed on cellulose paper. It's rag paper. (that's why iodine pens are used for detection of counterfeits) with red and blue fibers

It also has a watermark......and a plastic strip....

and magnetic emblems... and color shifting ink...and intricate details a printer can't duplicate...

[BobMc]

Even if you could, money isn't printed on cellulose paper. It's rag paper. (that's why iodine pens are used for detection of counterfeits) with red and blue fibers

It also has a watermark......and a plastic strip....

and magnetic emblems... and color shifting ink...and intricate details a printer can't duplicate...

Damn, thanks for dashing my plans of world domination.

BobMc

[Snow Dog]

Feeling scared yet? How about combining this with warranty records? Print anything that the government doesn't like, and there's a good chance they can trace it right back to where you live or work.

Big Brother is here, right now.

Sorry, I think it goes the other way. Back at the dawn of civilization (criminal) investigaters realized that each typewriter had a unique signature. Given a document and a typewriter an expert could declare if they matched and that became evidence of guilt or innocence. Tagging documents is the logical extension of that field of investigation. That's why cars have licence plates too (horses have unique markings so they don't need tags).