4 ms·

This reminds me of Federal Public Service Finance of Belgium. When they take possession of items for various reasons they want to sell them off to reclaim lost

This reminds me of Federal Public Service Finance of Belgium. When they take possession of items for various reasons they want to sell them off to reclaim lost tax revenue. Cars for example, now you must know that in Europe for some reason people are very weary of their VIN. It's not shown on websites as it is in the USA. So the tax office posts a PDF with all the cars they possessed with their VINs, but with 80% blacked out. With black boxes. And they didn't flatten the PDF. Sending around data is a minefield. Metadata everywhere. It's so easy to lose track of it.

pxx 4y ago
VINs are by design very visible on cars? You could get the same information by just going to the lot... Though the overall lesson of the story is good: analog redactions with a permanent market and a b&w photocopier are recommended for anybody without 100% confidence in their tools.
- Something1234 4y ago
  Can you really trust photocopiers with the microdots they encode nowadays?
  - jaywalk 4y ago
    If all you're worried about is redaction and not anonymity, a photocopier is perfectly fine for the job.
    - Something1234 4y ago
      This about anonymity applies for whistleblowers which the forwarded article was about.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Aren't those only in color photocopiers/printers (relying on the lesser visibility of yellow ink)?
    - billiallards 4y ago
      Not sure I would rely on that, but Xerox's docs state that the requirement was introduced as an anti-counterfeit measure by some governments. Counterfeiting currency probably wouldn't be a concern with B&W printers. Most banknotes are not printed on ordinary paper, but it doesn't stop people from trying. Printers which produce those dots will also usually refuse to print high-resolution pictures of dollar bills.
- LarryMullins 4y ago
  > a permanent marker Or better yet, an exacto blade. If the "black and white" photocopier is actually grayscale, then you could get text leaking through the marker if you play around with the image contrast.
Hamuko 4y ago
>Cars for example, now you must know that in Europe for some reason people are very weary of their VIN. Quite a lot of cars in Europe, including from European marquees, have the VIN in a visible place at the bottom of the windshield. I can also look up the VIN for pretty much any car on the road by just searching the number plate on the traffic authority's website. Gives me the VIN, last inspection date, tyre sizes, tax info, etc.

pxx 4y ago

VINs are by design very visible on cars? You could get the same information by just going to the lot... Though the overall lesson of the story is good: analog redactions with a permanent market and a b&w photocopier are recommended for anybody without 100% confidence in their tools.

Something1234 4y ago
Can you really trust photocopiers with the microdots they encode nowadays?
- jaywalk 4y ago
  If all you're worried about is redaction and not anonymity, a photocopier is perfectly fine for the job.
  - Something1234 4y ago
    This about anonymity applies for whistleblowers which the forwarded article was about.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  Aren't those only in color photocopiers/printers (relying on the lesser visibility of yellow ink)?
  - billiallards 4y ago
    Not sure I would rely on that, but Xerox's docs state that the requirement was introduced as an anti-counterfeit measure by some governments. Counterfeiting currency probably wouldn't be a concern with B&W printers. Most banknotes are not printed on ordinary paper, but it doesn't stop people from trying. Printers which produce those dots will also usually refuse to print high-resolution pictures of dollar bills.
LarryMullins 4y ago
> a permanent marker Or better yet, an exacto blade. If the "black and white" photocopier is actually grayscale, then you could get text leaking through the marker if you play around with the image contrast.

Hamuko 4y ago

>Cars for example, now you must know that in Europe for some reason people are very weary of their VIN. Quite a lot of cars in Europe, including from European marquees, have the VIN in a visible place at the bottom of the windshield. I can also look up the VIN for pretty much any car on the road by just searching the number plate on the traffic authority's website. Gives me the VIN, last inspection date, tyre sizes, tax info, etc.