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Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

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Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#51

Post by rsaxvc »

dopeboy wrote: post #29
rootw0rm wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first x64 patch I ever did was to remove this very protection from Photoshop years ago. It was a single instruction patch, 1-3 bytes changed, I don't remember exactly.

Curious, as I'm totally oblivious to this - how does one patch a closed source binary to get around this protection?

Everyone else has mentioned the easy part - replacing the function entry with "return not money"

The hard part is finding where that is. One approach is to start with the error string - find it in the file and put a memory-read breakpoint on it in the debugger. Trigger the error and capture the call stack - start working up the chain until you identify why that text was read, either the failure directly or a message passed to that thread - if it's a message, find what sent it and why.

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#52

Post by gpspake »

I discovered this sort of thing a decade or so when I tried to print a promo yard sign for a real estate company with a pic of a $100 bill on it and Photoshop griped at me. That's when I learned about the eurion constellation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#53

Post by whoopdedo »

_jal wrote: post #26
taviso wrote: post #3

A few years ago I extracted the CDS logic and got it working in Linux so I could experiment with it: https://twitter.com/taviso/status/902997594460135424 I had planned to see if I could come up with an image that would still be detected even with significant distortion, and then print it on a t-shirt... The idea being you couldn't open a photograph of me in PhotoShop! :) I got sidetracked, but I should get back to th…

I had the same thought. I made a T-shirt with the EURion constellation on it. It did work, kind of, but not as well as I liked - distance and angle mattered a lot. My original goal was to wear it for official documentation, but that went less well. It was cut off in my drivers license photo, and I forget why, but I never ended up wearing it for passport photos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation

US passports are clear that only your face should be in the photograph. I can't think of any passport, drivers license, or even employee ID that didn't crop the photo at most below the collarbone.

A face tattoo, on the other hand...

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#54

Post by BonoboIO »

taviso wrote: post #3

A few years ago I extracted the CDS logic and got it working in Linux so I could experiment with it: https://twitter.com/taviso/status/902997594460135424 I had planned to see if I could come up with an image that would still be detected even with significant distortion, and then print it on a t-shirt... The idea being you couldn't open a photograph of me in PhotoShop! :) I got sidetracked, but I should get back to th…

Please release your research. I m really interested how the detection works.

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#55

Post by matheusmoreira »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #14
chrismsimpson wrote: post #8

More proprietary software treating their users like criminals as the default.

What legitimate use case can you think of where the benefit of faithfully reproducing currency is not outweighed by the need to prevent the proliferation of counterfeit currency?

It doesn't matter whether or not the use case is "legitimate". The software must obey the user. If I tell the software to process the image of a bank note, that's exactly what it should do. Without complaining, warnings or refusal.

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#56

Post by hda2 »

molszanski wrote: post #12
chrismsimpson wrote: post #8

More proprietary software treating their users like criminals as the default.

Try to put a bill on any copier machine or try to print a bill on your home printer ;)

I tried that the first time I heard about the EURion constellation[1] a few years back. Printed fine. It was a Brother printer.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#57

Post by JellyBeanThief »

kazinator wrote: post #24
dumpsterdiver wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What legitimate use case can you think of where the benefit of faithfully reproducing currency is not outweighed by the need to prevent the proliferation of counterfeit currency?

Making Monopoly money for the kids? You cannot make counterfeit currency with Photoshop. Paper money has security features that won't even convert to pixels in the first place, like holograms, transparencies and fibers embedded in the paper and such, never mind reproduce by conventional printing. This whole deterrence system is idiotic. People who accept an obviously fake printed copy of a banknote basically deserve…

> People who accept an obviously fake printed copy of a banknote basically deserve it; it goes with their collection of wooden nickels.

Define "obviously". Black and white on copy paper? Sure. But color ink, on paper of the right color and feel? That's different. Forget the fibers and the holograms--we're not worried about people printing $20s and $100s to buy a high-end TV. It's singles and fives for groceries and household essentials that are the real pull. If a cashier is handed three fives and seven ones and has to spend two seconds scrutinizing each bill because one in ten people are trying to pass counterfeits they printed at home, that's going to slow things down.

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#58

Post by throwaway1851 »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #14
chrismsimpson wrote: post #8

More proprietary software treating their users like criminals as the default.

What legitimate use case can you think of where the benefit of faithfully reproducing currency is not outweighed by the need to prevent the proliferation of counterfeit currency?

I look at this differently. I see an intrusive restriction on the private use of a general purpose tool, and ask: is this intrusion necessary?

Do restrictions like this even serve as a road bump for real counterfeiting operations? Or do they exist to create a sense of ubiquitous surveillance? To lower the general public’s baseline expectations for autonomy and privacy? To drop another anchor that can be used to justify unrelated intrusions in the future?

Re: Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

#60

Post by notpushkin »

aneeshnl wrote: post #47
themagician wrote: post #31

Most scanners and printers have counterfeiting built in at a firmware level. On some machines it will even brick the hardware if triggered.

You mean, anti-counterfeiting ?

I would love to have a printer with built-in counterfeiting though. :-)
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