Detecting Currency in Photoshop

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sjm217/projects/currency/

by hootx • 15 years ago

48 22 15 years ago

cl.cam.ac.uk

DrStalker• 15 years ago

When this feature was first added to photoshop it caused a noticable delay when opening files or pasting content from outside photoshop. It was possible to disable the check by removing a DLL from photoshop and get the speed back to normal.

Somehow I don't think this feature has done much to discourage serious counterfitters, it's just annoyed legitimate users, especially as there are pefectly legal ways in which an image of a banknote can be used.

pyre• 15 years ago

I don't think that it's meant to discourage serious counterfeiters. It's meant as a barrier to casual counterfeiters. Now that tools are powerful as Photoshop are at the fingertips of the masses, this seems like it is meant as a way to prevent people that otherwise wouldn't know the first thing about counterfeiting from just firing up Photoshop and trying to make fake money. (I'm not commenting on it's efficacy though)

Vivtek• 15 years ago

This magical currency detection is in a single DLL? Why hasn't it already been reverse engineered?

cosmicray• 15 years ago

> When this feature was first added to photoshop

Do you know what release that was ? Perhaps this cranky old copy of PS-5 I use is free of that enhancement.

sciolistse• 15 years ago

It was added in the first "CS" version.. Photoshop 5 is, unencumbered.

slavak• 15 years ago

Is this really a prevalent feature these days? I must be completely out of the loop.

That must be the most useless "feature" I've ever heard of. What possible reason is there for doing this?!

aw3c2• 15 years ago

I would guess some politicians asked for way to stop people counterfeiting money with image manipulation tools or scanners. This solution satisfied them and made them feel good.

Zak• 15 years ago

I understand why this might make an uneducated politician happy. What I don't understand is the incentive for Adobe to do it. Was there ever a danger of restrictions on image editing software?

A1kmm3• 15 years ago

Just a guess: maybe they have a contract to supply software to one or more governments, and either a term is that they have to do it, or they don't want to upset the government and lose the contract.

tzs2• 15 years ago

> What possible reason is there for doing this?!

You might try reading the first sentence of the article.

A1kmm3• 15 years ago

Has it been edited? In the version at the time of writing this comment, it says that they 'will not process the images', but it doesn't say why not.

TeMPOraL• 15 years ago

Maybe it works as a cost-effective way to eliminate occasional counterfitter-wannabes.

Reminds me of: http://lesswrong.com/lw/f1/beware_trivial_inconveniences/

jwr• 15 years ago

When you buy Photoshop, does it say on the box or in the specs that it will choose which images it will allow you to process and refuse ones it deems unsuitable?

Just wondering.

dsl• 15 years ago

No. But you can return it to Adobe for a full refund. The Secret Service will even hand deliver the check.

athom3• 15 years ago

Coming soon to the GIMP.

And Krita.

And... ?

athom3• 15 years ago

Wow, somebody was not amused. No clue why...

A1kmm3• 15 years ago

Both are GPLd programs, most likely with copyright ownership spread across large numbers of contributors in many countries. The GPL says you can't distribute the program unless you include the complete source code. To legally distribute a version of a GPLd image manipulation program with a closed-source currency detection module in it, you would need to get every person who holds copyright in that program to agree - probably an impossible task given many probably feel strongly against this kind of restriction. Alternatively, it might be possible to get a law passed to exempt distributors from that terms of the license - but that would only apply in one country, and it would also need to override the 'freedom or death' term of the GPL.

Even if there was a Free / Open Source currency detection engine, I doubt it would be included in the projects unless it became a legal requirement.

benjoffe• 15 years ago

The best solution is to just make the currency very difficult to counterfeit, eg. see Australian money which is plastic, textured and has a transparent section; alas, this software still detects Australian notes.

moe• 15 years ago

...because how could counterfeiters possibly do their job when deprived of the ability to add lens-flare

tzs2• 15 years ago

I wonder how currency designers deal with this? In the US, at least, they use Photoshop for this.

jodrellblank• 15 years ago

As we add increasing amounts of software and microchips into the world around us, are we setting ourselves up for a future in which 1-in-a-million false positives / negatives end up happening in various systems several times a day?

Sorry, this microwave cannot heat this product, the explosive-density-detector has triggered the security block

(Now that I think about it, this mirrors my real world computing experience right now - endlessly pestered by false matches and ineffective checks. File downloads blocked by mime type, by browser, by file extension, file opening blocked by extension, program install blocked by UAC, program running blocked by inaccessible internet, file copy blocked by "unspecified security flaw"...)

Detecting Currency in Photoshop

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