Wednesday, February 08, 2006

We need some new pens!

Check-washing: erasing the ink on checks and changing them

By Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow: Bruce Schneier reports on the reputed practice of "check-washing" wherein fraudsters use solvents to take the ink off checks and then re-address them and change the sums on them:

If you are a ballpoint pen lover, switch to black ink when security is important. Among water-based inks, remember that gels are the most impervious. But when you're writing checks to pay the monthly bills, only one type of ink, the kind in gel pens, has been found to be counterfeit proof to acetone or any other chemical used in "check washing." Most ballpoint and marker inks are dye based, meaning that the pigments are dissolved in the ink.

Link

Update: Hanne sez, "I thought I'd put a few words in for one of my favorite inkmakers, Noodler's Ink. Specifically, their magnificent Waterproof Black ink, which bonds to the cellulose in paper fibers and cannot be washed out or dissolved out of the paper. For those concerned about the possibility of check-washing, or those who have any other forgery concerns of any sort, I can't recommend Waterproof Black highly enough."

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

A Million Little Lives and Relativism

Don’t know if you guys have been following this whole deal with James Frey, Oprah, the Smoking Gun, etc.

 

If you have, I find it interesting that in a world that seems to be pushing more and more for relativism, the TRUTH, not subjective truth, is what really matters.