From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 94 12:30:34 PST
To: dwa@mirage.svl.trw.com (Dana Albrecht)
Subject: The Thread Thread
In-Reply-To: <9411181925.AA26548@mirage.svl.trw.com>
Message-ID: <199411182029.MAA11178@netcom13.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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

-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
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