Canon copier engine

[XXCLARK at indst.indstate.edu]

>From: Edward J OConnell <ejo at world.std.com>
>Subject: Re: jrk at sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)
>To: "Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger at lehman.com>
>Cc: cypherpunks at toad.com


>seen a canon representative, with a straight face, say at a trade show
>that there was a chip in these machines that detected the pattern created
>by currency, and blocked out the image.

        Read something like this in either Electronic Design or Electronic
   Products, within the last nine months. Sorry, can't cite.

        Claims were for the _new_ color Canon copiers to be sold beginning
   1994.

        The article claimed the memory of the copier held representations
   of all major paper currencies. Any attempt to copy would produce only
   a black rectangle in stead of a bill.

        The worrisome item was the statement that the copiers would add
   some sort of unspecified marking to each copy made, allowing copies
   to be traced back to their source.

        No details on the latter, of course. Don't recall if there was
   even a hint of invisibility.

        With the SS concerned about money funnier than that we use each
   day, I had no trouble believing in a machine capable of currency
   recognition.

        What I could never decide to believe without proof, however,
   was the marking/traceability claim.