Slashdot Mirror

While SunComm attempts to keep its security mechanisms a secret, a better example of security through open review can be found here.

Where's George enthusiasts are aggressively analysing the new bill with regards to writing adverts on any cash they come across

As an active Georger myself, I'd like to make one correction to your statement. We're not "advertising" anything. We're simply tracking the bills. Advertising on a bill treads just a bit closer to the border between "fun" and "defacement". As an example of what happens when you get too close to the border, Hank (the WG? webmaster) was "urged" by the Feds to stop selling "Where's George?" rubber stamps on wheresgeorge.com, to avoid the appearance that the stamp was intended to push stamp sales.

No "your homeland security department at work" rants, please -- this was long before 9/11. Besides, the paranoid would see WG? as yet another tracking system, and would avoid such marked bills like alien death rays.

According to the press release (scroll down),

"New designs for the $50 and $100 notes are scheduled for introduction in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Different colors will be used for different denominations..."

I have looked and looked, but found nothing about what those colors will be. Any suggestions? Is peach the right color for the twenties?

Yeah, retailers were a big part of the education campaign. (Think Walmart, not Wally's Corner Market)

That pen you used was to test for the presence of wood-based paper. The old iodine-starch trick.

Why the fuck is the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing using www.moneyfactory.com as their URL? As part of the government, shouldn't they be in .gov, or at possibly .us?

Why does Ben Franklin look constipated?:)

Images of the new $20. $20 Front $20 Back There you go. Just a little RTF'ing and clicking gets you a long way.

Images of the new $20. $20 Front $20 Back There you go. Just a little RTF'ing and clicking gets you a long way.

B.E.P. must have had you in mind. You can download the PDF file of the new bill here: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/files/Bill_gl ossies_white.pdf

Does anyone else think that government sites should have .gov domains? I mean, moneyfactory.com sounds like a scam site to me.

BTW, they still have green backs.

I beg to differ. Link Looks pretty cut and dry to me.

The design features on our currency have historical and idealistic significance, but may not include the likeness of a living person, and do not have sectarian significance. The design of paper currency, as well as the material used in its production, is determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.

now, if you owe, say $5k on your car, you can deliver 5k $1 bills and they have to take them.

They do not. In fact, no one is required to accept cash. The term "legal tender" means that cash is a legal financial instrument that anyone may accept. It doesn't mean they must accept it.

I cite the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (cute hostname, eh?) which itself states that the law remains mum. This means that some states might have a requirement to take cash, but it's not a provision of the US code.

More information: Press release
Picture of the actual bill: Front Back

More information: Press release
Picture of the actual bill: Front Back

More information: Press release
Picture of the actual bill: Front Back

A security thread is a thin thread or ribbon running through a bank note substrate. All 1990 series and later notes, except the $1, include this feature. The note's denomination is printed on the thread. In addition, the threads of the new $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes have graphics in addition to the printed denomination. The denomination number appears in the star field of the flag printed on the thread. The thread in the new notes glows when held under a long-wave ultraviolet light. In the new $5 it glows blue, in the new $10 it glows orange, in the new $20 note it glows green, in the new $50 note it glows yellow, and in the new $100 note it glows red. Since it is visible in transmitted light, but not in reflected light, the thread is difficult to copy with a color copier which uses reflected light to generate an image. Using a unique thread position for each denomination guards against certain counterfeit techniques, such as bleaching ink off a lower denomination and using the paper to "reprint" the bill as a higher value note.

When's the last time they actually printed a $2 bill?

1996 (series 1995)

If there are two dollar bills are they a limited run, collectible currency thing like silver dollars? what do they look like? why have I never seen one?

I don't know it they're still printed, but they are real, and still in circulation. They just not commonly used.

Here's a link to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The have a picture of Jefferson on them.

And here's a link to a funny story about someone who recently tried to spend one at a Taco Bell.

You may want to check out this page. An average $20 bill is only in circulation for about 4 years before it gets replaced. More to the point, 95% of all bills printed in a given year go to replace existing currency. Better ways to keep the US government out of debt would include reducing military spending and rolling back existing tax cuts. In case you hadn't noticed, keeping inflation down is the least of our worries concerning the US economy.

On this page, the mint encourages you to "View, download or print glossy images of the new notes" from this pdf!

On this page, the mint encourages you to "View, download or print glossy images of the new notes" from this pdf!

We run the web infrastructure for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on our DataHost platform. Starting about 2 hours ago (when the unveiling press conference ended) we've been sustaining over 20Mbits per second of traffic. As I look at the monitor now, we're doing 33Mbits/sec. Most of the traffic has been US-based, though we expect an overnight surge as Asia wakes up. Gotta go back and look at histograms now - Bolivia just took a keen interest in the new $20 note. Don't forget to stop by the BEP store (http://www.moneyfactory.com/store) and pick-up some neat collectibles (though, nothing with the new twenty until later this year). All the info on the new twenty is at http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney.

We run the web infrastructure for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on our DataHost platform. Starting about 2 hours ago (when the unveiling press conference ended) we've been sustaining over 20Mbits per second of traffic. As I look at the monitor now, we're doing 33Mbits/sec. Most of the traffic has been US-based, though we expect an overnight surge as Asia wakes up. Gotta go back and look at histograms now - Bolivia just took a keen interest in the new $20 note. Don't forget to stop by the BEP store (http://www.moneyfactory.com/store) and pick-up some neat collectibles (though, nothing with the new twenty until later this year). All the info on the new twenty is at http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney.

Pictures

The President on the $2 bill is Thomas Jefferson.

Here's the webcast of it. It's about a half hour long, and in WM format.

Now they're saying there will be subtle changes every few years, so in another decade there will be like 4 different versions of the $20 bill, ALL LEGAL. If you saw a fifth version, which was counterfeit, would it be obvious to you?

Here I think you've found a real problem. People DON'T look at their money. It's surprising how few people even check the $50's and $100's. Right now there are two versions of every bill, in 2004, it will be three, and just as you say, NO ONE is going to know what the newest versions look like until they see them.

That leads to a sick-but-funny possibility: some merchant takes a ``new'' $20. Later, you come into his shop, spend your ``new'' $20, and he calls the cops, who haul you away for counterfeitting. The problem? The first $20 was counterfeit, and yours was real, and neither the merchant nor the cops knew the difference.

Since no American is educated about their money, it could happen. When the new bills with the watermarks and threads came out, I had to explain what they were to most of the store clerks who noticed. I only knew about them because I'm a coin collector.

http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/flash/interac tivebill/index.cfm

You can find some better pics here.

Does anyone remember seeing some bills a long time ago printed with red ink? Am I dreaming?

I have a $2 bill somewhere that has the Treasury seal in red instead of green. It doesn't identify itself as a Federal Reserve Note; it's labeled as a United States Note.

Does anyone remember seeing some bills a long time ago printed with red ink? Am I dreaming?

No, you're just filthy stinking rich. :)

$1000? Fuck that. I want a few $100,000 notes. :)

Yes, but you have to pick up the note and look at its markings.

Compare the US banknotes with for example the Swedish ones.

Now let's say you're drunk and tired at 3 AM and you want a taxi ride home from the nightclub. One quick glance in the American wallet says you've got a bunch of banknotes (if you're lucky...), they're all the same size and the same colour. One quick glance down the Swedish wallet immediately tells you if you can afford that taxi ride home or if you've got to stagger home on your feet/knees/hands/whatever. Not having to stand in the street flipping through your money to read their numbers will also make you a less attractive mugging victim on that walk home...

You can even keep your money in the pocket and feel how much money you're carrying, not to mention the blind who have to do this all the time.

Information about the previous redesigned 1996 notes and the history of U.S. currency is available at the Bureau's (Bureau of Engraving and Printing) website at www.moneyfactory.com.

See my other post.

And if I remember correctly, the Federal Reserve is actually private as well. That's right, the organization that prints money. All those crazy collectors coins, tours of the mints, and stuff of that sort make money.

Uh, wrong. The Federal Reserve is an independent agency run by a Presidentially-appointed board of governors, who also selects the Chairman (e.g. Alan Greenspan) with the consent of the Senate (like any Cabinet member). The Federal Reserve controls the money supply by setting bank reserve requirements and setting the federal discount rate.

This is quite different from the process of printing money (by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing) or minting coins (the US Mint). The printing of money is statutorily limited under the Federal Reserve central banking system in order to control inflation.

Doubtless you're thinking of many of the congressionally-mandated private corporations, such as Fannie Mae (formerly the Federal National Mortgage Corporation) or Freddie Mac. These are private stock corporations that simply have to answer to a congressional mandate to fulfill a specific function, while making money for their investors.
----