New US $20 bills Released, Colors & Layout Change

JayBonci writes "CNN is running a story with the newest advances in the original copy-protection arms race, a new US $20 dollar bill. From the article, specifically color and different number arrangements as an improvement over 1996's "Big Face" dollar bills." Little off the norm for Slashdot, but it's interesting since computers have vastly simplified forgery.

Comments

7-10 years?!?

[Phroggy]

Holy crap, redesigning bills every 7-10 years? What the hell are they thinking?

When the current $20 bills came out, I heard of people having trouble using them, because apparently a few people somehow didn't hear that new bills were being released so obviously thought they were counterfeit. The current bills are pretty obvious, though, now that everybody knows about them. 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?

Yeah, they're including new security features. That's cool and all, but how often do people really check them? Sure, on a $100, people check. On $20 they usually don't. They still go by appearance and texture, just like they always have.

Counterfitting measures updated.

[Angry White Guy]

It's about time the U.S. has updated their bills, but I don't think that this is enough. Take a look at British Money to see how difficult you can make it for a counterfitter. Big watermarks, multiple color dyes that penetrate the fibres of the paper. The old U.S. bills you could bleach a $1 bill clean and print a $20 dollar bill on it, and nobody would be the wiser.
Ironic that the most precious thing a nation could have would also be the cheapest.

Re:Counterfitting measures updated.

[stratjakt]

Actually, there are the colored bands that go through the paper with the denomination printed on them. So while you can bleach a one, you cant remove the plastic strip inside that has "1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1" on it.

It's virtually impossible to replicate every single feature in modern currency. What the big counterfeiters hope for is to fool most of the people most of the time, and get an army of kids/lackies to pass the bad notes for them.

Counterfeiting is more about finding ways to pass the bills than create them - it always has been.

You have to find clerks and gas station attendents. But since most stores have you on camera, it's easier to find the guy who passed the bad bill. You'd be a complete idiot to go to Best Buy and pick up a fancy Alienware PC and 21" LCD monitor with counterfeit 20's.

Better would be strangers on the street ("hey buddy can you break a 20?"). Street level drug dealers and prostitutes no doubt get a lot of funny money.

But it's a slow, labor-intensive process.. You have to pass one note at a time, and in the smaller denominations, as to not arouse suspicion.

It's much like other organized crimes like drug dealing or bookmaking - it's not generating the money thats the problem, it's getting rid of it (laundering).

They'll probably never make an "impossible-to-duplicate" bill, but they can make the enterprise of counterfeiting so fraught with headaches and dangers that few would even bother.

Most counterfeits look stupid

[Dark Paladin]

I've worked in the financial world for a bit, and I'm always surprised by how bad most counterfit bills look.

95% of the time, counterfeit bills are accepted by people who don't seem to notice that while the bill corners say $20, George Washington is in the center. Or that they're printed on normal grade paper.

I'm sure the government is making the change to the $20 for "big time" counterfeiters, but it seems like most of the time it can be prevented on the retail level by people just using their heads.

But...

[archetypeone]

they haven't changed the size?! Why is it that no blind people have sued over this?

One change we won't likely see

[Chagatai]

While the adaptation of colors and revising the layout of the dollar bill is a nice deterrent, there is one thing that would be nice to see: dollar bills that the blind could use.

In Japan for years now, not only are the coins and dollar bills used in different colors (for easy glances to see how much money someone has), but they are of different sizes and shapes that make the coins recognizable by the blind. The 10,000 Yen bill is the longest, while the 1,000 is the shortest. Even the 5 Yen coin has a hole in it to separate it from the other coins (yes, this also goes back thousands of years to the Chinese "cash" coins).

Seeing as how all American bills are of the same size, I imagine that it must be slightly frustrating for a blind person to trust someone they don't know to be completely honest about money and take $5 instead of $50. Unfortunately, I can't see the Treasury Department putting some sort of Braille marker or other deliniating factor into future money production.

Best thing that could happen for funny money

[doublem]

This will be a boon for counter fitters.

"Don't be an ass, it's not counterfeit, it's the new twenty that just came out this fall."

All a counter fitter needs to do is come up with a bill chock full of security features and start spending it like there's no tomorrow. As people get used to the new bill every few years, it will become commonplace.

Remember the story of the person who passed a $3.00 bill with Bill Clinton's face on it? All they could charge him with was failure to pay, since he hadn't really counter fitted any money.

Dollar coins

[PateraSilk]

(soapbox)
What I wanna know is, when are they going to phase out the dollar bill? The Sacagawea dollar coin went the way of the Susan B because they kept printing singles. Coins have a pocket life of 30 years, compared to 3 for bills. If we're gonna spend the time and money in a coin let's actually make it work.
(/soapbox)

What about the older bills?

[Xaroth]

My thought is this, and I'm surprised it hasn't floated its way to the top of the modded posts already:

Of what use is a new anti-counterfit bill if they don't recall the old, easily counterfitted ones? Counterfitters won't even try to adjust to the new bills if the old ones are still in circulation and legal tender - there's just no reason to.