New US $20 bills Released, Colors & Layout Change

JayBonci writes "CNN is running a story with the newest advances in the original copy-protection arms race, a new US $20 dollar bill. From the article, specifically color and different number arrangements as an improvement over 1996's "Big Face" dollar bills." Little off the norm for Slashdot, but it's interesting since computers have vastly simplified forgery.

Hmmm

[Gortbusters.org]

is the next story for today, "How to use your Linux machine for forgery?"

This is off the norm, with the decline in jobs I don't see too many 20s! :(

Have old bills?

[Joe the Lesser]

Send them to me and I'll dispose of them in an environmentally safe way.

Yesh!

[jdehnert]

If they change them any faster, You'll be able to make your own and pass them off as the latest, newest , most non counterfitiest $20.

More efficient

[L. VeGas]

I can finally use all the colors in my ink-jet cartridge.

From € to Ä (not!)

[cwernli]

As long as the name doesn't change it's A-OK: immagine the dollar being called the "Amerio"...

Re:Counterfitting measures updated.

[legojenn]

I'm surprised that they didn't include that little scratch & win thing like they have on Canadian 20s and above. Nothing makes a currency seem valuable than making it look like a lottery ticket.

Re:Better pics

[GMontag]

Don't forget to leave the word "SAMPLE" intact when printing. This is a key component in detecting fakes :-)

Anecdote

[Schnapple]

True story: a friend of mine went to a popular burrito joint in town and paid for his $5 burrito with a then-new $20. The cashier somewhat blindly thinks its a then-relatively-new $100, so gives him $95 in change instead of just $15. The friend took the money and left quickly.

I told him he was all horrible and evil for doing so - but I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same.

Re:7-10 years?!?

[EinarH]

Now they're saying there will be subtle changes every few years, so in another decade there will be like 4 different versions of the $20 bill, ALL LEGAL. If you saw a fifth version, which was counterfeit, would it be obvious to you?

[trollmode]
You live in a banana republic with almost an banana economy; so what did you expect? ;-)

Several different versions of the same bill is so thirdworldish.
[/trollmode]

Re:This will stop counterfeiting how...?

[Timesprout]

This is part of a cunning plan in collusion with HP to make forging the new colour bills prohibitively expensive due to the new massive overhead of time limited, half full HP ink cartridges.

Re:Hmmm

[Surak]

You need SANE, a scanner supported by SANE, The GIMP, a modern printing system (CUPS is pretty good), and a good inkjet printer supporting on your printing system of choice.

First you ... &^&*^(*^%^&%*&%%*%* %%^T&(

THIS USER HAS BEEN ARRESETED UNDER THE U.S. PATRIOT ACT. MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

Request for future features

[guacamolefoo]

Date: May 12, 2003
Re: New version of $20 bill

Dear Treasury Department (cc to Bureau of Printing and Engraving):

The new release of the product looks ok. I think it still needs some work, though. There are some additional features that I would like to see in the upcoming $20 bill v. 2.3 beta release:

1. P2P sharing
2. Centerfolds (!) (note: not Andrew Jackson - think modern, maybe Denise Richards)
3. Self-generation (try making paper from those Wizard's Apprentice broomsticks)
4. Encryption, so that only I can use my bills

BTW, please, please do implement a "software activation" thingy. That would be really lame.

Respectfully,
GF.

Re:Hmmm

[KDan]

Ok then, here's a five dollar bill [dreamshadow.net] that should be appropriate for a slashdot poster :-)

Daniel

Re:But...

[L. VeGas]

When will people learn that SIZE DOESN'T MATTER.
(My shrink makes me say this 50 times every morning. Or until I stop crying, whichever comes first.)

Yeah, yeah! Re:Becoming more and more like Europe

[StefanJ]

Next thing you know, these traitor$ will be pulling other Socialist-communist tricks, like putting scientists and authors and artists on our money!

Damn them and their evil black collektivist souls!

Quick Martha, git me my gun!

Re:Anecdote

[digitalsushi]

I gave the first window at Wendy's a 10 dollar bill a few weeks ago, and they gave me back change for a 20. So I told the lady at the second window what she did while giving her a 10 dollar bill, and the lady put the 10 in her pocket and called me "retarded" right before shutting the window. I'm thinking that's ironic somehow.

Re:Counterfitting measures updated.

[yanestra]

Ironic that the most precious thing a nation could have would also be the cheapest.
The most precious thing a nation could have is not its money! Geez ....

Its weapons? Its lawyers?

Re:7-10 years?!?

[AKnightCowboy]

The current bills are pretty obvious, though, now that everybody knows about them.

My $20 bills already look like this new one since everytime I seem to have one the god damn cashiers run a highlighter over it. What, pink and yellow highlighting is the new anti-counterfeiting technique? I thought defacing currency was a federal offense.

Re:7-10 years?!?

[stratjakt]

That leads to a sick-but-funny possibility: some merchant takes a ``new'' $20. Later, you come into his shop, spend your ``new'' $20, and he calls the cops, who haul you away for counterfeitting. The problem? The first $20 was counterfeit, and yours was real, and neither the merchant nor the cops knew the difference.

When I still lived Canada, this happened to me. I went to an ATM, took out some cash, and walked next door to McDonalds.

I ordered my QP with Cheese, and handed the clerk a 20. She then went back and got her manager, both of them gawked at the bill, and then the manager tells me she cant accept it.

This pissed me off, since I don't like people accusing me of a felony. The funny thing was, the currency was at least a year old at the time. I guess McDonalds employees dont often see anything bigger than a five. (Having worked there when I was 14 I can attest to that).

Anyways, I told the manager to either accept the bill, or call the cops. It says right on the currency, "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private". Technically, that means, you either accept it as payment, or agree not to be paid. (I've heard of assholes running around with 1000 dollar bills demanding that if a clerk doesnt accept it they dont have to pay at all)

Now where am I going with this story? Oh yeah, she called my bluff and called the cops. The cop came and asked what the problem was, and she walked around the corner with him all in private like she just busted some great counterfeiting ring. The cop, visibly annoyed, pulled one out of his wallet, held them side by side for McTwitwich, and said there was nothing wrong with the bill.

So then I decided I wanted Arbys. I didnt really want Arbys. Noone really wants Arbys. But thats what I said, and I left.

People are educated about their money. You read the article just now didnt you? If people are too stupid to educate themselves, thats their own fault.

Re:What about size?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Isn't it pretty standard for counterfeiters to bleach a small denomination bill and print the image of larger ones?"

They could still bleach a larger denomination bill, cut it down to size, and print it with the smaller denomination. The problem still exists.

Re:arrrragagarglargagahag!

[Anonymous Coward]

A nice story about a man's misadventures trying to pass a $2 bill [milk.com]

They actually encourage you to print it!!

[morcheeba]

On this page [moneyfactory.com], the mint encourages you to "View, download or print glossy images of the new notes" from this pdf [moneyfactory.com]!

Re:Best thing that could happen for funny money

[doublem]

counterfeiter vs counter fitter

Damn spell check. You'd think with the average spelling on slashdot, I'd get away with such a slip up.

As for the counterfeit bill I mentioned. My memory was flawed. It was $200 and George Bush, not $3.00 and Bill Clinton. (Thanks Unknown Poltroon (31628) ) Funny how your memory starts to fail as you age.

Google Cache [216.239.51.104]

Danville DQ Gag 'Talk Of Town'
Restaurant, Residents React

UPDATED: 6:42 p.m. EST January 30, 2001
DANVILLE, Ky. -- It started out with a blizzard and now a Dairy Queen in Danville is getting an avalanche of attention.

This $200 bill was used at a Danville Dairy Queen Sunday
A woman who paid for her food with a fake $200 bill Sunday left with plenty of change. The bill had a picture of George W. Bush on the front and oil rigs on the back.

"That's the talk of the town," Danville resident Joseph Bourne said. "It's got to be one of those dumb blonde stories."

Added fellow resident Drew Hammond: "It's the kind of news I like to hear out of my own hometown. Usually things don't happen of great significance here. It gets a lot of attention."

The 18-year-old employee has offered to refund the store. Her manager, Mike Tracy, tried to be supportive, and said that she probably was just too busy to notice the mistake.

"We try to do things as quick as possible here," Tracy said.

At least he's being a good sport about it. The restaurant is now distributing coupons on the backs of fake $200 bills.

"We're going to play off this advertising a little bit and try to think of it as something positive," Tracy said.

Local law enforcement said that the joke became a crime when the woman took off with all that change.

"When the woman received the money and left with it, the joke ceased," Danville police officer Bob Williamson said.

Still, because there's no such thing as a $200 bill, the woman, if caught, couldn't even face federal counterfeit charges.

Re:7-10 years?!?

[Saige]

Visually impared people? In the US? They're not impared, they're just lazy mooches who can't be bothered to put effort into seeing. They shouldn't be able to tell the bills apart if they're not going to work hard enough to see clearly like all the other hard working Americans.

And don't get me started on all those people who are in wheelchairs because they are too lazy to walk. Don't give me that wussy politically-correct "they're paralyzed" crap either. That's just a lie of the liberal media!!!

"Forgued" Notes

[Anonymous Coward]

Dennis Forgue, an anti-counterfeiting expert
Has anyone else noticed that this anti-counterfeiting expert's name rearranged spells "u forge"?

Re:Are they brazilian looking?

[B3ryllium]

Mmmm, uncut. (hahah)

Re:Are they brazilian looking?

[The Almighty Dave]

Boy, had I trouble in the US keeping the different bills apart...

The easiest way is to look at the number in the corner.

and the RIAA...

[Anonymous Coward]

the newest advances in the original copy-protection arms race

yeah, right... i'm sure copies will be available on Kazaa any day now.

a.c.

Re:Counterfitting measures updated.

[Pyrosz]

Because it is a lottery ticket, you never know how much its going to be worth from hour to hour.

As a Canadian who buys a lot from other countries, you just never know what its going to cost you in the end.

Stupid copy protection

[elmo13]

First they try to stop us making 'back ups' of our music and videos (for personal use of course), then they make it even harder for us to make 'back ups' of our money.

Thats just stupid

-- http://www.spran.co.uk (America doesnt exist)

Re:If dollar bills were like computer software..

[blibbleblobble]

"If dollar bills were like computer software..."

Please type the 30-digit registration number which came on the disposable plastic wrapper of these dollars... Do you accept the license agreement?

hang on

[RMH101]

shouldn't that be pictures of presidents dead from the neck up?