3 ms·

Sure, any anti-counterfeit measure can be beaten, but it is certainly possible to design banknotes in such a way that consumer-grade printers can't produce anyt

by kijin 15y ago

Sure, any anti-counterfeit measure can be beaten, but it is certainly possible to design banknotes in such a way that consumer-grade printers can't produce anything remotely resembling a real banknote. Then there will be no excuse for spying on citizens' everyday printing activities. The fact that this alternative is not even on the table adds to the impression that the U.S. government, as usual, is trying to use Big Bro techniques as a quick fix instead of coming up with real solutions. BTW, I'm not sure if anyone prints fake Canadian money, but a few years ago some dude in Germany tried to print millions of dollars worth of fake Canadian Tire money :)

a3camero 15y ago
I've seen counterfeit Canadian money. You can buy it in bulk from people at a discount to the face value... Many retailers in Canada have signs saying they'll refuse to take $100 bills (probably the reason for the recent roll-out of new $100 bills).
sliverstorm 15y ago
I really doubt the government is regularly spying on your printing. The whole thing really seems like a very small issue to me. It just gives printers a "fingerprint" that can be referenced if needed. I suppose if "fingerprints" are so bad, we should probably outlaw ballistic analysis linking a bullet to the gun that fired it?
- DanBC 15y ago
  > I really doubt the government is regularly spying on your printing. For some values of "the government" not including many governments; see $OPPRESSIVE_REGIME. There's a lot of stuff "the government" does now that would have been unthinkable before various terrorist bombing attempts. Really, forcing everyone to remove their shoes before boarding a plane? And, if you doubt that the US[1] spies on its own citizens you should have a look at the Echelon programme, where a legal loophole was used by the US to gather intelligence on its citizens. (The US gov can't do it legally, so they pass a name onto another gov involved in Echelon.) [1] US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

by kijin 15y ago

a3camero 15y ago

I've seen counterfeit Canadian money. You can buy it in bulk from people at a discount to the face value... Many retailers in Canada have signs saying they'll refuse to take $100 bills (probably the reason for the recent roll-out of new $100 bills).

sliverstorm 15y ago

I really doubt the government is regularly spying on your printing. The whole thing really seems like a very small issue to me. It just gives printers a "fingerprint" that can be referenced if needed. I suppose if "fingerprints" are so bad, we should probably outlaw ballistic analysis linking a bullet to the gun that fired it?

DanBC 15y ago
> I really doubt the government is regularly spying on your printing. For some values of "the government" not including many governments; see $OPPRESSIVE_REGIME. There's a lot of stuff "the government" does now that would have been unthinkable before various terrorist bombing attempts. Really, forcing everyone to remove their shoes before boarding a plane? And, if you doubt that the US[1] spies on its own citizens you should have a look at the Echelon programme, where a legal loophole was used by the US to gather intelligence on its citizens. (The US gov can't do it legally, so they pass a name onto another gov involved in Echelon.) [1] US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.