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Adobe Says It Uses Anti-Counterfeiting Technology
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:11:20 -0400
-----Original Message----- From: N Sashikumar <sashi () civil iisc ernet in> Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:17:26 To:Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Cc:ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Adobe Says It Uses Anti-Counterfeiting Technology http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4798-2004Jan9.html Adobe Says It Uses Anti-Counterfeiting Technology By Ted Bridis Associated Press Saturday, January 10, 2004; Page E03 Adobe Systems Inc. acknowledged yesterday it had added technology to its popular Photoshop graphics software at the request of government regulators and bankers to prevent consumers from making copies of the world's major currencies. Adobe, the world's leading vendor for graphics software, said the technology, which generates a warning message when someone tries to make digital copies of some currencies, "would have minimal impact on honest customers." The technology was designed recently by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, a consortium of 27 central banks in the United States, Japan, Canada and Europe. "We sort of knew this would come out eventually," Adobe spokesman Russell Brady said. "We can't really talk about the technology itself." Rival graphics software by Taiwan-based Ulead Systems Inc. also blocks customers from making copies of currency. Experts said the decision by Adobe represents one of the rare occasions when the U.S. technology industry has agreed to include third-party software code into commercial products at the request of government and finance officials. Adobe revealed it added the technology after a customer complained in an online support forum about mysterious behavior by the new $649 "Photoshop CS" software when opening an image of a $20 bill. Angry customers have filled Adobe's Internet message boards with complaints about censorship and concerns over future restrictions on other types of images, such as copyrighted or adult material. "This shocks me," said Stephen M. Burns, president of the Photoshop users group in San Diego. "Artists don't like to be limited in what they can do with their tools. Let the U.S. government or whoever is involved deal with this, but don't take the powers of the government and place them into a commercial software package." TechNews.com Home © 2004 The Washington Post Company ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Adobe Says It Uses Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Dave Farber (Jan 10)