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Currency Detection Discovered in More Products
netbsd_fan writes "BUGTRAQ is reporting that anti-counterfeiting spyware is being found in more and more products. What is also interesting is that these products block fair uses of currency images which do not break the law. What incentive do printer manufacturers have to treat their customers like criminals? Is this a precursor to DRM in scanners, CD drives, and output devices?"
It's actually just a test for the true roll-out, which will prevent the reproduction and distribution of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
To: BugTraq
4 13 ,87~11271~1882929,00.html)
Subject: HP printers and currency anti-copying measures
Date: Jan 17 2004 5:10PM
Author: Richard M. Smith
Message-ID:
Hi,
Last week, the Associated Press reported that Adobe has incorporated
anti-copying technology in their Photoshop CS software which prevents users
from opening image files of U.S. and European currency. Here's the article:
Adobe admits to currency blocker
http://tinyurl.com/2xnno
(http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1
I did some investigating on my own computer and discovered that HP has also
been shipping currency anti-copying software in their printer drives since
at least the summer of 2002. I have an HP 130 photo printer and found the
string "http://www.rulesforuse.org" embedded in the driver.
According to a few newsgroup messages posted in 2002 and 2003, folks are
seeing this URL printed out when they attempt to print images of certain
types of bills. An HP printer with this anti-copying technology only prints
out an inch of a currency image before aborting the print job.
Here is a list of HP printers which appear to have this anti-copy technology
embedded in their Windows printer drivers:
HP 130
HP 230
HP 7150
HP 7345
HP 7350
HP 7550
I suspect the list of affected HP printers is much longer.
I located these printer drivers simply by searching all files in my Windows
and Program Files directories for the string "rulesforuse". If other folks
run this same experiment, please let me know of other programs which appear
to contain currency anti-copy technology.
There are some unanswered questions raised by this quiet effort by U.S. and
European governments to turn home computers into anti-counterfeiting "cops":
1. Besides graphic programs and printer drivers, what
other kinds of software is this currency anti-copy
technology being embedded in?
2. Are companies being required to include currency
anti-copying technology in their products? If not,
what incentives are being offered to companies to
include the technology on a voluntary basis?
3. Will future versions of this technology, "phone home"
to the rulesforuse.org Web site with details about
a violation of the currency copying rules? It would
be very easy to include an email address, name of the
image file, software version number, etc. embedded in
a URL to the rulesforuse.org when a violation has been
detected.
Richard M. Smith
http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com
'Go for the eyes, Boo, go for the eyes, aaarrrrrrrr!' -- Minsc
Hey, look! Over there! A terrorist!
What were you asking me again, you traitor?
Search on the usual suspect newsgroups and you'll find a "patch" that can easily be applied to Photoshop CS to turn the currency detection off.
Maybe this is another example of the kind of initiative that bureaucrats dream up all the time and usual get binned immediately, but are nowadays somehow seeing the light of day due to some "homeland security" paranoia. Like telling airline customers not to queue for the toilets in planes or whatever.
It has been public information for a long time that there have been currency detection in digital color copiers. When I worked at Xerox this was publicly acknowledged (~4 years ago).
The currency detection was used to imprint a watermark into the reproduction image. That watermark identified the copier model and serial number that made the photocopy. The result was that the secret service could track down photocopied currency to the exact machine it came from. This supposedly worked for US bills, but I don't know if it recognized other foreign bills.
All thats changed now is that some devices stop printing the currency and instead print out some informational junk in its place. HP apparently does this in its Windows drivers, while Xerox did its watermarking in firmware on the actual device.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
what happens when the note design changes?
As many people have pointed out, in every Slashdot FP on this topic, the detection algorithm works by finding a pattern of five small circles in a particular configuration (which looks vaguely like the Cingular logo, without the head-dot).
This same pattern occurs on US, Canadian, EU, and presumeably many other forms of world currency, so the same algorithm can detect all of them, without modification (and more usefully, without a huge library of bill designs that needs constant updating as various countries change the pictures on their money).
To make a new bill design fit the detection algorithm, the government needs only include that pattern of five circles somewhere in the design.
I included a link to a PDF of the pattern in a Slashdot post from a few days ago, if you want to see it.
Actually, I've thought about this. I don't have complete information about the Eurion pattern, but if it's scalable to larger sizes, it could be interesting.
I was thinking of T-shirts with this design on them so that photographs of you (think driver's license, passport) can't be photocopied.
A little rubber stamp with this pattern on it so that you can copy-proof any document you want (do you want the IRS photocopying your 1040? Nah!)
Anyway, not terribly handy I admit, but a great way to wrench up the works.
I cannot copy that benjamin
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
If software can detect bank notes in printer drivers, why can't vending machines do it reliably?
I wonder if more images will incorporate these anticounterfeiting circles? CD covers, web photos, and books could all incorporate this simple design.
What happens if someone puts the circle design on their webpage images? Does this prevent printing, copying, etc. web images?
Circle mania could get very interesting.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Effectively, there's now a standard symbol for "do not copy". It needs to be better publicized, but it's out there. Soon we'll see it on everything.
Boy you are going to get the IP police on you about this one.
Downloading MP3's is NOT a federal crime, for very many reasons.
1) It pisses me off when people leave out the words "without distribution permission". I know why people do it, but the net result is it allows people to label an entire class of LEGAL activity as being shady. For example, absolutely nothing stops me from recording my wife singing, encoding it in the MP3 format, and sharing it. There are plenty of bands (insert rant about commercialized music and better alternatives) that have authorized distribution. MP3 != stolen
2) It's not a federal crime. It's a violated contract. These are civil court infractions, not federal violations.
3) The difference between a civil dispute and a federal crime is quite large. As in the difference between at most a fine and years of jail time.
The parent poster was absolutely right. People forget what a REAL crime it is and ruin their whole lives. You'd honestly be better off stealing a candy bar than forging a $5 to pay for it.
Never confuse volume with power.
Your child might actually be running afoul of the anti-Christ detection algorithms that were installed into software long before all this currency stuff. It looks for a specific pattern of 3 '6's on your child and should be helpful in alerting you to your child's status as the anti-Christ (along with the explained rash of deaths you must be experiencing). The quickest workaround is to change one of the 6s into an 8 with a sharpie.
Why don't you post a picture of little Damien. I bet he's a real cutie patooty.
The problem isn't that this is stopping people from printing images of currency, but that it is establishing the principle that it is ok for the government to require programmers to put crime detection / phone home features in their software.
Do you see the problem now?
The "right" being infringed here is very close to speech. The right to write/run software of your own choosing without having to ask the government if it is ok first.
You would consider it a big deal if the government required you to get their approval before publishing an article you had written, wouldn't you?
The phrase prior-restraint comes to mind.