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EURion is a funny[1] kind of DRM, what caught the fake Pokemon cards is Xerox DocuColor[0], a watermarking technology. The difference is that DRM is designed t

EURion is a funny[1] kind of DRM, what caught the fake Pokemon cards is Xerox DocuColor[0], a watermarking technology. The difference is that DRM is designed to prevent you from copying something, while watermarking is designed to make you dox yourself if you copy something. I've yet to see evidence that EURion et. all actually stop counterfeiting, but watermarking has been very effective at finding counterfeiters. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots [1] Most DRM is intended to enforce copyright; but the state is not asserting copyright over the image of a banknote. There are cases where it is legal and moral to completely reproduce a faithful image of a banknote, and those cases are much broader than the various exceptions to copyright that exist.

skyyler 2y ago
>watermarking is designed to make you dox yourself if you copy something Is that a legal requirement on paper somewhere? It seems like an expensive feature to add if not required.
- rtkwe 2y ago
  Not really, the firmware just adds the dots automatically to the rendered print. It's just datetime and the serial in most of the version of this. What's expensive about that?
  - PinkSheep 2y ago
    It is expensive at scale. In a world where each gram of CO₂ is taxed. "Windows Timer Resolution: Megawatts Wasted"[0] - Microsoft has since added coarse timers and coalescence. [0] https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/windows-timer-resolution-megawatts-wasted/ https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/windows-timer-r...
    - rtkwe 2y ago
      Printers probably use more ink keeping their heads clean in inkjet printers than they ever do printing these dots on the page. And even if it is expensive the customers bear that expense and send it right back to the printer companies. However many microliters of ink a customers' printers use is just more ink bought from the manufacturer.
      - skyyler 2y ago
        But why? Why spend the engineering hours on this? In a world where any corners that can be cut are, why is this one not cut? Is there a shadow regulation in place?
        rtkwe 2y ago
        I'm not sure but again this probably required very little time to implement. The printer already has to process the rendered image adding an extra layer probably took a day to hammer out the first versions. It's also potentially useful for business customers too to be able to where a document was printed from without central print dispatch and tracking.
jsheard 2y ago
> but watermarking has been very effective at finding counterfeiters. Whistleblowers, too. That's believed to be how they got Reality Winner, because the documents published by The Intercept contained those tracking dots.
sandworm101 2y ago
Eurion is part of a series of programs that stop some high-end scanner, printers and editing software from handling currency. Try scanning/editing/printing a eurion note and you will run into roadblocks. That makes it a type of DRM.
rtkwe 2y ago
Kind of, most version it's just the serial number which is a very soft dox. Going from that to the identity of a real person is really hard if you don't have the investigative powers of the state or have hacked the printer manufacturers registration data (if the person even bothered to register their printer).

skyyler 2y ago

>watermarking is designed to make you dox yourself if you copy something Is that a legal requirement on paper somewhere? It seems like an expensive feature to add if not required.

rtkwe 2y ago
Not really, the firmware just adds the dots automatically to the rendered print. It's just datetime and the serial in most of the version of this. What's expensive about that?
- PinkSheep 2y ago
  It is expensive at scale. In a world where each gram of CO₂ is taxed. "Windows Timer Resolution: Megawatts Wasted"[0] - Microsoft has since added coarse timers and coalescence. [0] https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/windows-timer-resolution-megawatts-wasted/ https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/windows-timer-r...
  - rtkwe 2y ago
    Printers probably use more ink keeping their heads clean in inkjet printers than they ever do printing these dots on the page. And even if it is expensive the customers bear that expense and send it right back to the printer companies. However many microliters of ink a customers' printers use is just more ink bought from the manufacturer.
    - skyyler 2y ago
      But why? Why spend the engineering hours on this? In a world where any corners that can be cut are, why is this one not cut? Is there a shadow regulation in place?
      - rtkwe 2y ago
        I'm not sure but again this probably required very little time to implement. The printer already has to process the rendered image adding an extra layer probably took a day to hammer out the first versions. It's also potentially useful for business customers too to be able to where a document was printed from without central print dispatch and tracking.

jsheard 2y ago

> but watermarking has been very effective at finding counterfeiters. Whistleblowers, too. That's believed to be how they got Reality Winner, because the documents published by The Intercept contained those tracking dots.

sandworm101 2y ago

Eurion is part of a series of programs that stop some high-end scanner, printers and editing software from handling currency. Try scanning/editing/printing a eurion note and you will run into roadblocks. That makes it a type of DRM.

rtkwe 2y ago

Kind of, most version it's just the serial number which is a very soft dox. Going from that to the identity of a real person is really hard if you don't have the investigative powers of the state or have hacked the printer manufacturers registration data (if the person even bothered to register their printer).