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FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

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191–200 of 399 posts

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#191
post #95

I had another version of this at the DMV. They needed to see bills that offered proof of my residence (ie power/water/etc). Turns out they wanted them to be mailed to you, which wasn't going to work because I do paperless billing for everything. So I printed them out and tri-folded them as if it had been in an envelope. People in front of me in line got turned away for using printed bills, but mine worked just fine.

> They needed to see bills that offered proof of my residence (ie power/water/etc). Turns out they wanted them to be mailed to you, What state? Certainly, that's neither in the Federal REAL ID requirements (more stringent than most preexisting state requirements) nor most states implementation of REAL ID (which can be narrower than what REAL ID allows.) E.g., California, for REAL ID, requires documents (not necessari…

Which is crazy, because those would be trivially easy to fake.

And then REAL ID is considered as reliable as a passport (except to fly internationally, of course), so you've bumped up the level of trust a huge amount with one simple edited printout of a bill.

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#192
post #184

I have a shell script based on ImageMagick that gives a PDF a "scanner" look. I typically open the PDF in Master PDF Editor to insert an image of my signature, then pass it through my script. When I do need it, it's rare, but it becomes a real life saver. It has avoided me the need to print and scan 100+ pages for a mortgage company, some stock brokers and banks. Key points of the script: "+noise Random -fill white -…

Kind-of-related: I'm wondering if anyone can help me find a website I found a long time ago (probably through StumbleUpon, if that tells you anything about how long ago)

It was a "government document simulator." What you would do is upload a nicely scanned document, and it'd give you back a mis-alighed, crappy quality "scan" of that document, with random blotches and other visual noise. You know, like regular government/FOIA-received documents.

I feel like this is halfway there, if not more (so thank you!), but that website was so authentic.

I don't know if it's even around, but it made me giggle, and I'd like to find it again. If not--great startup idea!

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#193

Oh goody! I've been looking for new ways to commit mail fraud!

Konrad Kajau forged Hitlers Diaries and nearly got away with it. He had a memorable line, it was something like “Fake? Real? There are efficient documents and inefficient document.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Kujau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Diaries

Wow! How cold.

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#194
post #16

I vaguely recall hearing a while ago that it may be counted as a forgery if you copy and paste your own signature that way. These days it even happens that you can simply type your name as a signature, but it's quite hard to be sure what's okay and what's potentially a crime with these bureaucracies. But for a tool like that, it might be useful to write down in which jurisdictions it's certainly okay (or not) to use.

IANAL. Wikipedia, "Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself)."

Note defraud.

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#195

Hey Gitlab, could you consider adding the following CSS so that README images don't break out of their containers? Having to horizontally scroll to see this image is brutal. .md img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } I think that goes here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/55a4cc5a53903250...

I bet someone with the right skills could just make a PR / MR for this fix.

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they also do this for ID's, and for voter ID's. It's specifically created to prevent people whom don't have only 1 permanent address,with paper billing, being able to live their daily lives. I had to go to a local county courthouse 4 times to get a "realid" and to renew a driver's license. I had to call all sorts of people to get printed statements sent to me. It's incredibly ridiculous, I would call it complete…

The point is to authenticate residency, and while it’s not a great system, there also isn’t any better alternatives.

Why do you need to authenticate it in the first place? If people are discovered lying somehow, send them to jail. Otherwise, trust that people will be honest.

Fraud is not nearly the problem people think it is...

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#198
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The closest is probably moving your drivers license registration, which many people wait years to do after moving. Most states do require by law that you do this in a very short period of time after moving. (Although yes, it is not uncommon for people to violate this)

Only if you have a driving license and plan on driving. I agree, it's quite odd that you never officially register as a resident of the state, but I guess it's part of the US's aversion to "papers please."

Or voting. You typically register with the secretary of state to vote.

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#199
post #95

I had another version of this at the DMV. They needed to see bills that offered proof of my residence (ie power/water/etc). Turns out they wanted them to be mailed to you, which wasn't going to work because I do paperless billing for everything. So I printed them out and tri-folded them as if it had been in an envelope. People in front of me in line got turned away for using printed bills, but mine worked just fine.

> They needed to see bills that offered proof of my residence (ie power/water/etc). Turns out they wanted them to be mailed to you, What state? Certainly, that's neither in the Federal REAL ID requirements (more stringent than most preexisting state requirements) nor most states implementation of REAL ID (which can be narrower than what REAL ID allows.) E.g., California, for REAL ID, requires documents (not necessari…

I would bet entire dollars it was some local person's interpretation of the requirements, rather than anything intentional at the legislative level.

Re: FalsiScan: Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they also do this for ID's, and for voter ID's. It's specifically created to prevent people whom don't have only 1 permanent address,with paper billing, being able to live their daily lives. I had to go to a local county courthouse 4 times to get a "realid" and to renew a driver's license. I had to call all sorts of people to get printed statements sent to me. It's incredibly ridiculous, I would call it complete…

The point is to authenticate residency, and while it’s not a great system, there also isn’t any better alternatives.

If all this was for is to ensure you live at an address then the local government can offer a number of solutions to that. If they want mail, they can simply mail you a unique qr code which you could then scan and complete the process entirely online. Or at a minimum bring physically to an office.

A utility bill doesn't require proof of residency to get. Neither does a credit card statement. Infact if I were creative I could say I live anywhere and provide false documents of that. It is the legitimate use of this system that is difficult, not illigitimate use.

The system is not designed to be secure or to ensure residency, that's not it's purpose. Its purpose is to create further government control to suppress citizens rights to operate freeley in their own country. Specifically, to target low income individuals. These people creating the policies are not the same people whom are affected by them.

If I am U.S. born I have a right to operate in certain capacities as a citizen. Voting, owning land, and working are all rights unalienable. The fact this is not currently true is proof of the federal fascism we live in.

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