3 ms·

Can someone clarify for me: 1) Why do manufacturers do this? Is it for their own internal warranty control / tracking, or is there a broader federal mandate mo

Can someone clarify for me: 1) Why do manufacturers do this? Is it for their own internal warranty control / tracking, or is there a broader federal mandate motivating this? 2) The dots are only useful in after-the-fact analysis, correct? If I print something and then there's reason to suspect me they can print something, compare, and verify, but there's no mechanism to find the initial document and find the printer, correct?

d2viant 16y ago
It was intended as a tracking mechanism against counterfeit currency.
- jamesbressi 16y ago
  Isn't that just a beautiful explanation for security measures? Kind of like suspending or limiting Miranda Rights because of terror.
- motters 16y ago
  That's the explanation I've heard given in the past, although I don't know if it's the official one given. The East German Stasi also used to mark typewriters so that they could tell who wrote subversive articles.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- thefool 16y ago
  But this isn't govt mandatated right? Its just a printer manufactures internal policy as I understand it.
  - there 16y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation is also recognized in many photo-editing software packages like photoshop. not government mandated, but i'm sure the software companies get leaned on to support it. http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vnc6rm&s=5 http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vnc6rm&s=5
- megablast 16y ago
  On top of this, a number of applications, like Photoshop, will detect that you are trying to print out a US note, and will not allow it. This seems like a lot of effort to prevent the stupidest form of counterfeiting, and doing nothing against the real problem.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    On the other hand, if they didn't put in a lot of effort to prevent the stupidest form of counterfeiting, then the stupidest form of counterfeiting would be the real problem.
    - Devilboy 16y ago
      I seriously doubt that this helps at all. If someone tried to print bank notes from Photoshop and fails, they'll just try some other graphics app. I'm pretty sure Gimp and many other apps will work just as well as Photoshop would have.
michaelfairley 16y ago
Re 2: Supposedly the manufacturer is supposed to keep track of which printers go to which stores, and the stores are supposed to keep track of the credit card used to purchase the printers.
- tibbon 16y ago
  Hmm. Note to self: buy printers with non-sequential currency. Then again, I wonder if they'll stop accepting cash for printer purchases if enough people did that (like they did with iPads)

d2viant 16y ago

It was intended as a tracking mechanism against counterfeit currency.

jamesbressi 16y ago
Isn't that just a beautiful explanation for security measures? Kind of like suspending or limiting Miranda Rights because of terror.
motters 16y ago
That's the explanation I've heard given in the past, although I don't know if it's the official one given. The East German Stasi also used to mark typewriters so that they could tell who wrote subversive articles.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
thefool 16y ago
But this isn't govt mandatated right? Its just a printer manufactures internal policy as I understand it.
- there 16y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation is also recognized in many photo-editing software packages like photoshop. not government mandated, but i'm sure the software companies get leaned on to support it. http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vnc6rm&s=5 http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vnc6rm&s=5
megablast 16y ago
On top of this, a number of applications, like Photoshop, will detect that you are trying to print out a US note, and will not allow it. This seems like a lot of effort to prevent the stupidest form of counterfeiting, and doing nothing against the real problem.
- hugh3 16y ago
  On the other hand, if they didn't put in a lot of effort to prevent the stupidest form of counterfeiting, then the stupidest form of counterfeiting would be the real problem.
  - Devilboy 16y ago
    I seriously doubt that this helps at all. If someone tried to print bank notes from Photoshop and fails, they'll just try some other graphics app. I'm pretty sure Gimp and many other apps will work just as well as Photoshop would have.

michaelfairley 16y ago

Re 2: Supposedly the manufacturer is supposed to keep track of which printers go to which stores, and the stores are supposed to keep track of the credit card used to purchase the printers.

tibbon 16y ago
Hmm. Note to self: buy printers with non-sequential currency. Then again, I wonder if they'll stop accepting cash for printer purchases if enough people did that (like they did with iPads)