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Banknotes Go Electronic To Outwit Counterfeiters
suraj.sun writes "Modern banknotes contain up to 50 anti-counterfeiting features, but adding electronic circuits programmed to confirm the note's authenticity is perhaps the ultimate deterrent, and would also help to simplify banknote tracking. From the article: 'A team of German and Japanese researchers created arrays of thin-film transistors (TFTs) by carefully depositing gold, aluminum oxide and organic molecules directly onto the notes through a patterned mask, building up the TFTs layer by layer. The result is an undamaged banknote containing around 100 organic TFTs, each of which is less than 250 nanometres thick and can be operated with voltages of just 3V. Such small voltages could be transmitted wirelessly by an external reader, such as the kind that communicates with the RFID tags found on many products.'"
For anonymous transactions. This puts that concept at risk.
How else are you going to tip your stripper?
We don't live in Shouldland.
You'd be amazed the places you can swipe a credit card
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
All that money won't be worth the paper it's printed on in a few years anyway.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
Why do we still carry money anyway?
Primarily so we can give it to who we want in the amounts we want, and we don't require Visa/Mastercard/Government/Paypal approving of the entity you are transacting with.
Essentially it's actually an important piece of protecting our freedom.
Why do we still carry money anyway?
Because when you pay people like me.
I don't accept checks, money orders, paypal transactions, nor do I accept credit/debit cards.
I do accept cash. United States Dollars, to be exact.
What do I do?
I fix your computer. I'm the guy, who makes house calls, to fix whatever the fuck you, or someone else did to mess up your computer.
Sure, you can go to the geek squad, or pay some "professional" place to do it. chances are, they won't fix it correctly, charge you way more then I do, and don't do house calls. Not to mention they might report something you have on your computer to some government agency. You didn't know the pics of your kids in the bathtub is considered child porn? That would suck to find out on the way to jail.
Or you can call me up, see when i'm free, and get your shit fixed correctly the first time. I also do the barter system, but that's mostly for weed dealers. Oh, and not only do I have better things to do then poke around your harddrive for whatever you have, I could care less what you have on your computer. Not my business, and your paying me cash to keep it not my business.
Be seeing you...
Poorer countries such as Nicaragua, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Kuwait use them, so why have other countries not caught up?
This isn't just the US, but the EU and UK as well. Why stick to paper when much more advanced tech has been around for over 20 years and is being used by third world countries?
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
Cash = Anonymity.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
"...Essentially it's actually an important piece of protecting our freedom..."
Was. (if this idiocy is implemented)
The article basically describes RFID tech capable of being built into money. These RFIDs can be read at any point-of-sale cash register. No? Give the government a year or so, as this is the real purpose of all of this--tracking every fucking dollar spent (not to mention the person doing the spending).
As with any RFID system, use your microwave oven liberally. 5 seconds is usually enough. If enough people do this, the whole scheme falls apart as constant "counterfeits" will be a deterrent to doing business and people won't trust the RFID pass/fail determintation. Besides, what happens if your hundred-dollar bill RFID malfunctions (from, say, being crumpled up in a pocket while going through the washer?) and no longer communicates? Are you out a hundred bucks? Will the clerk waiting for you to pay for a full shopping cart of groceries care?
It isn't a collar unless you let them put it on you.
It's still a form of stored value that can be transacted between 2 parties without government interference (if the transfer is done physically). Can't say the same for Visa/Mastercard/Paypal/Bank of America.
Paper? What sort of backward state still uses paper banknotes? :-)
In Australia plastic or 'polymer' notes last longer and are harder to forge.
Wait what? Currency may have it's faults, but it's been a long time since it was feasible to barter for anything. Part of industrialization (and specialization) means that what you produce won't be valuable to everybody. I can't exactly trade some software coding work with the farmer up the highway for some eggs, but I can trade it for some money from a software company and then use that money to buy my eggs. There's no reason to look so far backwards when trying to be "free." It's unfortunate the steps governments have taken these days to get the impression that anything a government can do is automatically restricting to freedom - but realistically speaking, without a small government with a rule of law and protection of property, you *can't* be free. Try bartering anything when the guy with the bigger guns will simply take what he wants. I'll be the first to stand up and say the government has far overstepped its bounds, but claiming there's more freedom in using a Mastercard than a nationally recognized legal tender is asinine.
Cash transactions are not to avoid reporting income. It's to buy what I want from who I want without anybody snooping into the details, government or otherwise.
+1 Disagree
Yes. Your quip is clever and funny, but to be serious for a second it is important to realise that government a priori does not automatically mean "nonfree" however much the popular rhetoric says so. For example the existance of maintained public roads increases your freedom of movement. A putatively impartial judiciary that enforces contract increases your freedom of commerce. A public agency that hunts down murderers increases your freedom unless you're a murderer etc etc.
OK OK, that being said we can start to argue about the dividing line in enabling and restrictive freedoms, Leviathan, 8000 years of political philosophy, abuse of power etc. But the point remains: people form and participate in/with governments because they feel they will be more free with them than without them. And people are fallible....quite fallible.
(and for the record this cash tracking is a horrible idea)
Because then it'd be called a politician.
Was. (if this idiocy is implemented)
The article basically describes RFID tech capable of being built into money. These RFIDs can be read at any point-of-sale cash register. No? Give the government a year or so, as this is the real purpose of all of this--tracking every fucking dollar spent (not to mention the person doing the spending).
As with any RFID system, use your microwave oven liberally. 5 seconds is usually enough. If enough people do this, the whole scheme falls apart as constant "counterfeits" will be a deterrent to doing business and people won't trust the RFID pass/fail determintation. Besides, what happens if your hundred-dollar bill RFID malfunctions (from, say, being crumpled up in a pocket while going through the washer?) and no longer communicates? Are you out a hundred bucks? Will the clerk waiting for you to pay for a full shopping cart of groceries care?
It isn't a collar unless you let them put it on you.
As a christian, stories about tracking purchases are very interesting to me. End-time prophecies say that we'll eventually end up with a one-world cashless financial system where the government can approve or deny any transaction in real-time. Say something bad about the government? Associate with the wrong people? Refuse to take this mark that says you agree to worship the mandated one-world religion instead of whoever you want? No transaction for you... and the police will be there in a moment. Please remain calm.
Just 30 years ago, none of us thought this would be in our lifetimes. After all, who could imagine stringing together 1,000,000 apple 2Es over phone lines to make this work? Now? I think I could design the system myself. We're not supposed to set dates. But at least this part of the puzzle can happen pretty much right now.
Ordinarily, I'd think about this stuff and feel a sense of dread. But I'll be gone when all this happens. It's you non-christians who get to deal with that mess. ;-)
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
End-time prophecies say that we'll eventually end up with a one-world cashless financial system where the government can approve or deny any transaction in real-time.
Not without a lot of baseless guesswork, they don't.
"Mr. Petersko, we have a record of you receiving this bill at 5:00 p.m. from the ATM. At 5:40 p.m. a marijuana dealer was arrested and he had possession of that bill. Can you explain that?"
"No, sir, I cannot. From 5:00 p.m. until 5:58 p.m. I was fucking your mother in the alley by the ATM. I can't count it as an alibi because she'll deny it, but if you'll examine her anus you'll find some compelling evidence. Alternatively, take your suspicion and go away."
And then I'll pray the L.A.-style cop beating will be caught on cell phone.