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Xerox Exploits Printer Flaws To Make Pseudo-Holograms
Red Wolf writes "A chance discovery by Xerox lets printers superimpose glossy images on regular printouts, creating the possibility for document authentication along the lines of holograms on credit cards. The new technology, called Glossmark, can use ordinary office printers to superimpose a glossy image on an ordinary printed document in a way that can't be photocopied or otherwise easily reproduced."
If it's easily available on a commercially available printer, how does it provide great security?
way that can't be photocopied or otherwise easily reproduced
Uh, except for on another Xerox printer?
What? That doesn't make any sense. Did you read the article?
Any bug you can control is a feature! The big question in my mind would be... what would stop some enterprising individual from replicating this bug to forge the watermarks?
You couldn't copy the original image. You'd have to have to separate source images (the bg and the layover) to counterfeit successfully. It's just another wall, really.
"Can be produced" isn't the same as "can be reproduced." Sure, I guess you could print out your own copies -- if you had access to the original images. If I understand correctly, most of the point is that you can't just scan the image and retain the glossmark effect.
It doesn't look really useful for preventing professional counterfieting, but for "casual" things [retail reciepts, HR files, inter-company corrospandance, etc.] It could come in handy for quick verification.
On another note, how cool a job do these "Xerox Scientists" have?
From the books I've read about Xerox, it sounds more frustrating than cool to work in their R&D. You invent all this neat shit, and the copierheads at Xerox dont "get" it, so Xerox doesn't market it.
Your only hope is to go to work for the other company that will eventually pick up the technology and make a mint with it, or to leave and found your own company to make what you invented.
And with all the "intellectual property" crap being thrown into employment contracts these days, the latter of those two options is probably right out the door. If Bob Metcalfe was working at Xerox these days, he damn sure wouldn't be allowed to leave and start 3Com to sell ethernet hardware that he whipped up on Xerox's dime.
Holograms have a bit more depth than 2 layers, however.
was this a serious question? I can never tell these days if someone is just acting, or being...
I'll take a stab at a guess how it works...and if this isn't how it works, I wonder if it would.
-You print the document as normal.
-On the repeat print, the "watermark" image color pattern matches the document you already printed. In essence, you double-up on the toner placed down in particular locations to make the Glossmark image. Viewed straight on, the extra-heavy toner pattern is indistinguishable from the rest of the printing as the color is the same, but the glossy surface is seen when viewed at an angle.
It's just a guess, but it seems to make sense.
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
Finally I can replace this candle wax and stamp sealer from the 1500's!
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
You might get the paper by bleaching one-dollar bills, but you damn sure ain't getting the press.
Yes, but then if you re-read the post you're replying to, that's exactly what he said. It's not the artwork that's stopping him from making a good counterfeit, it's the lack of ability to obtain the machinery to do it.
Making something "authentic" is relatively easy when the machinery is in every store. The Xerox machine can't make anything not easily counterfeited because everybody could get one cheaply and affordably, and then simply print out their own Glossmark crap.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.