3D Holograms Detect Fake Signatures

Roland Piquepaille writes "Several sources reported last week that a new technique that produces 3D holograms of handwriting could be used to detect fake signatures on checks, credit card receipts or other important handwritten documents. Here are pointers to Nature, Scientific American or BBC News Online. Instead of using 2D techniques to look at the sequence of pen strokes in a signature, this new method is based on 3D micro-profilometry which permits to translate the writing into an image showing dips and furrows of the sample so that anomalies can be detected. If you plan to imitate your spouse's signature, beware! Forensics have a new and very efficient tool. As an example, for the use of ballpoint pens on normal paper, the success rate was 100%. You'll find more details, references and pictures in this overview."

Comments

ANOTHER ROLAND!

[toxic666]

Why does /. keep posting articles submitted by this guy? He has a shabby blog on radio.weblogs.com and does a poor job stealing other writers work; the site is a blatant commercial effort. Yet /. keeps putting Roland's stuff up and linking to it.

What's the deal? Is there some kind of commercial payola a la 1970's radio? Maybe the editor has a thing going with Roland, in a Clinton-McGreevy-esque way.

*Cringe* I didn't need any of those mental images.

Re:I would be scared

[LiquidCoooled]

whilst your actual stroke path may be different for every signature, the order of your strokes and the pressure at different points means the paper is imprinted in a certain order.

For instance, as I draw a capital B, i do my downstroke first, then sweep back up, to the left slightly, and then around for the 3 portion from top to bottom.

Even if somebody had my signature as an example, they would not be able to match my drawing style.

it would take a video of me performing the signature as well as paper samples, making it much much more difficult to achieve, and easier to detect.

This is one of the key elements of a signature that to this point has not been able to be utilised.

I love being left handed - it is my security by obscurity ;)