[fsml] Euro Banknotes embed RFID chips (fwd)

[Steve Schear]

At 01:52 AM 12/29/2001 +0100, Eugene Leitl wrote:
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 00:36:31 -0000
>From: Andrew Hennessey <pegasus at easynet.co.uk>
>To: fsml at yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [fsml] Euro Banknotes embed RFID chips
>
>http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011219S0016
>
>
>
>Euro bank notes to embed RFID chips by 2005
>
>By Junko Yoshida
>EE Times
>(12/19/01, 3:03 p.m. EST)
>
>SAN MATEO, Calif. - The European Central Bank is working with technology
>partners on a hush-hush project to embed radio frequency identification tags
>into the very fibers of euro bank notes by 2005, EE Times has learned.
>Intended to foil counterfeiters, the project is developing as Europe
>prepares for a massive changeover to the euro, and would create an instant
>mass market for RFID chips, which have long sought profitable application.
>
>The banking community and chip suppliers say the integration of an RFID
>antenna and chip on a bank note is technically possible, but no bank notes
>in the world today employ such a technology. Critics say it's unclear if the
>technology can be implemented at a cost that can justify the effort, and
>question whether it is robust enough to survive the rough-and-tumble life
>span of paper money.

Not to mention intentional Electro-Magnetic Pulse exposure of bills to 
thwart the system.

A cheaper and more robust solution would embed random length and oriented 
glass/plastic fibers in the paper.  When exposed to a line illuminator as 
it is passed through a verifier, each bill would have a unique "illuminate 
here" - "light comes out there" signature that can be read out and matched 
to a DB generated at the mint.  Because of the fiber's resilience it will 
be more difficult to damage or thwart than RFIDs.

steve