Cash

From alt.2600...

In article 8imYglW00iV8M5q0dV@andrew.cmu.edu, Andrew Lewis Tepper <at15+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> Imbedded in 1991 series $20 bills (and I assume all later and higher
> bills) are thin plastic(?) strips with metallic writing on them. If
> you're careful you can remove them with a razorblade by slitting the
> bill's top edge and gently pulling it out. I've heard that airports will
> soon have "Money Detectors" that will count total cash carried per
> person. I'd like to figure out how the system works. I also think it
> would be cool for people to collect all the strips in any money they
> ever came in contact with and keep those in their wallets. Soon it would
> look like everyone was walking around with $100K's of cash, rendering
> their system useless.
> 
> Andy
> 

In article oh9@crl2.crl.com, eric@crl.com (Eric Fredricksen) writes:
> Anarch (anarch@cse.ucsc.edu) wrote:
> : They're in tens, too (don't know about ones and fives).  I've never been
> : able to remove one completely, but I've exposed the ends.  Do you know
> : how many there are in each bill, and where?  I know in tens there's at
> : least one, about a fifth of the way in from the left side (looking at
> : the front).
> 
> They're easy to remove.  Just rip the bill diagonally from the edge to 
> the strip on either side of it, and pull the little triangle you just 
> made.  The strip comes with it. Show it to your friends.
> 

Assuming this is true, it would seem that even good, old fashioned,
paper currency doesn't provide the level of anonymity that one
would think.  Scary...

Dana W. Albrecht
dwa@mirage.svl.trw.com

The "thread thread," about plastic/metallic threads placed in currency
to track our purchases and control our movements, has some up
again. (I'm reminded to put something in the Cyphernomicon FAQ about
it!)

* The threads are an anti-counterfeiting measure, so far as is known.
(I saw a "Nova" episode of counterfeiting, and this was the reason
give. Consistent with the physics, too.)

* A tiny thread cannot be readily detected by "airport scanners," nor
by even longer-distance scanners, unless the gain on the detector is
turned up so high that many other things trigger the detector.

If the threads are mostly plastic, with discontiguous metallic writing
on them, then the detection problem is even harder.

(Caveat: I admit the slim possibility that detectors could be tuned to
resonate with the precise _length_ of such threads. Maybe. Easily
thwarted by snipping, scratching, folding, and of course, RF shielding.)

Dana Albrecht wrote (quoting from alt.2600)

> > Imbedded in 1991 series $20 bills (and I assume all later and higher
> > bills) are thin plastic(?) strips with metallic writing on them. If
> > you're careful you can remove them with a razorblade by slitting the
> > bill's top edge and gently pulling it out. I've heard that airports will
> > soon have "Money Detectors" that will count total cash carried per
> > person. I'd like to figure out how the system works. I also think it
> > would be cool for people to collect all the strips in any money they
> > ever came in contact with and keep those in their wallets. Soon it would
> > look like everyone was walking around with $100K's of cash, rendering
> > their system useless.

Yeah, right. Everybody does this and the _total number of threads_
increases. Nope. Think about it.

> Assuming this is true, it would seem that even good, old fashioned,
> paper currency doesn't provide the level of anonymity that one
> would think.  Scary...
> 
> Dana W. Albrecht

Don't believe everything you read. Imagine what the simplest measures,
like folding your currency and placing it in anything metallic would
do. (For the paranoid, money clips are usually metal. Some are even
full enclosures. Are these to be banned?

I don't want to sound insulting here. Some conspiracy theories are
interesting, plausible, and worthy of concern.

All I'm suggesting is that people do some "due diligence" in
estimating the likelihood of something being true. For example,
another chestnut is the one about how cable t.v. boxes will be able to
use the LED displays as a _camera_ to send pictures back to Big
Brother. Simple physics, as well as the bandwidths and configurations
involved, shows how implausible this is....and yet this urban legend
shows up every few months--even here.

Did you know that flashing your headlights during the day will cause
gang members to respond by killing you? I know someone who says they
saw it happen. Police agencies around the country are warning people
not to flash their headlights during the day.

--Tim May

-- 
..........................................................................
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dwa@mirage.svl.trw.com (Dana Albrecht) writes:

 >> I've heard that airports will soon have "Money Detectors"
 >> that will count total cash carried per person. I'd like to
 >> figure out how the system works.

 > Assuming this is true, it would seem that even good, old
 > fashioned, paper currency doesn't provide the level of
 > anonymity that one would think.  Scary...

The strips are part of a program by the Feds to gradually
introduce features into currency which cannot be replicated on
high resolution digital color copiers.  I know of no technology
that would allow the strips to be detected at a distance which
would also be inexpensive enough to use in every bill and pose no
health risks to the person carrying the money.

Sounds like an urban myth to me, but I am willing to listen if
someone wishes to provide an plausable alternative explanation.

-- 
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $