Re: HP printers and currency anti-copying measures

[Andre Oppermann <oppermann () pipeline ch>]

Richard,

More disturbing is that simply blocking the printing of currencies is
not the right thing.  There are in fact only limits on how close a
currency is allowed to be reproduced.  There is no law or regulation
(at least for the Euro) that prohibits reproducing the bank notes in
general.

For example you are explicitly allowed to reproduce Euro notes if:

 1. it is only reproduced electronically (ie. Website) when the
    resolution is not higher than 72dpi

 2. it is only printed one-sided and it is at most 75% or at least
    125% the size of the original

 3. it is printed double-sided and it is at most 50% or at least
    200% the size of the original

 4. is is printed on something that clearly is not paper and does
    not look and feel like real bank note paper (here it can be a
    100% size reproduction)

 5. some more possibilities...

Thus a wholesale blocking of the printing or editing of currency
images is neither required nor correct and denies legal and fair
use.

Reproducing at least the Euro currency IS LEGAL provided the rules
are followed.

-- 
Andre Oppermann


"Richard M. Smith" wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Last week, the Associated Press reported that Adobe has incorporated
> anti-copying technology in their Photoshop CS software which prevents users
> from opening image files of U.S. and European currency.  Here's the article:
>
>    Adobe admits to currency blocker
>    http://tinyurl.com/2xnno
>
> (http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~1882929,00.html)
>
> I did some investigating on my own computer and discovered that HP has also
> been shipping currency anti-copying software in their printer drives since
> at least the summer of 2002.  I have an HP 130 photo printer and found the
> string "http://www.rulesforuse.org"; embedded in the driver.
>
> According to a few newsgroup messages posted in 2002 and 2003, folks are
> seeing this URL printed out when they attempt to print images of certain
> types of bills.  An HP printer with this anti-copying technology only prints
> out an inch of a currency image before aborting the print job.
>
> Here is a list of HP printers which appear to have this anti-copy technology
> embedded in their Windows printer drivers:
>
>    HP 130
>    HP 230
>    HP 7150
>    HP 7345
>    HP 7350
>    HP 7550
>
> I suspect the list of affected HP printers is much longer.
>
> I located these printer drivers simply by searching all files in my Windows
> and Program Files directories for the string "rulesforuse".  If other folks
> run this same experiment, please let me know of other programs which appear
> to contain currency anti-copy technology.
>
> There are some unanswered questions raised by this quiet effort by U.S. and
> European governments to turn home computers into anti-counterfeiting "cops":
>
>    1.  Besides graphic programs and printer drivers, what
>        other kinds of software is this currency anti-copy
>        technology being embedded in?
>
>    2.  Are companies being required to include currency
>        anti-copying technology in their products?  If not,
>        what incentives are being offered to companies to
>        include the technology on a voluntary basis?
>
>    3.  Will future versions of this technology, "phone home"
>        to the rulesforuse.org Web site with details about
>        a violation of the currency copying rules?  It would
>        be very easy to include an email address, name of the
>        image file, software version number, etc. embedded in
>        a URL to the rulesforuse.org when a violation has been
>        detected.
>
> Richard M. Smith
> http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com