Although barcodes are currently utilized mainly to keep track of merchandise, they may soon also be used to detect counterfeit goods. We're not talking about ordinary barcode labels, however. Instead, British scientists at Sofmat Ltd and the University of Bradford have devised a new 3D barcode that's actually molded into plastic or composite items.
The system utilizes tiny pins that are integrated into the mold from which the product is made. Each pin can be set to different heights via micro actuators, with each 0.4-micron increment in height corresponding to a specific letter or numeral (0 - 9). The current prototype consists of a four-pin array, allowing for over 1.7 million unique configurations.
The resulting indentations in the finished item are difficult to see and impossible to feel, yet can be read using a white light interferometer or a laser-scanning confocal microscope – a compact laser scanner is in the works, which could wirelessly transmit readings to a smartphone or tablet.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by frojack on Tuesday September 15 2015, @11:42PM
Talk about a useless self serving addition to a product.
Counterfeit products matter only when the product is sold or imported.
If manufacturers get control of their sales and importation process they don't need to mark every product.
From then on, it is more about denying warranties than preventing counterfeits.
Or enforcing where you buy your Ink or Toner, or your Coffee brewing cups.
I see little here for consumer protection.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:45AM
"Talk about a useless self serving addition to a product."
in that vein, allow me to mini-rant about a peeve that still peeves every time:
little, teeny, tiny labels on fruits, veggies and eggs...
'cause, you see, if we are THAT fucking stoopid we don't know an egg when we see one, we deserve to die of starvation...
WHY are those TOTALLY USELESS stickers adding cost to our food bills ? ? ?
...not to mention, they are annoyingly difficult to scrape off, and sometimes take the skin of the fruit with it when they are peeled off...
...not to mention the couple times i've forgotten about the cursed things and bitten/eaten labels...
grrrr...
merely another one of the thousand cuts we are inflicting to the planet...
(Score: 3, Informative) by mhajicek on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:51AM
It helps the cashier distinguish between a $1.50 / pound apple and a $4.00 / pound apple.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2015, @05:38AM
And what, pray tell, distinguishes these? Is it so difficult that the cashier needs instruction?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:25PM
Two reasons, having worked in a retail food store back when I was a starving student (admittedly a long time ago)
1) You take a big bin of cheap apples and you put some in the regular apple display for $1.50/lb and some in the organic apple display for $4.00/lb and customers have been heavily advertised to aspire and brag about paying $4/lb. The advertisers are pissed that a cashier could ruin the illusion of superiority, so they need labels. Imagine if it was impossible to distinguish a rolex from a timex, or a porsche from a yugo, but we all pretended they were different (kind of like how we also pretend some things that are different, are the same...)
2) Lets face it, cashiers are often not terribly knowledgeable about food. With continued economic decline perhaps in 2015 you can assume everyone in the store has at least a bachelors in something, but probably not an associates in food prep aka chef school. Customers would ask me at the store sometimes for advice on cooking some roast or how best to bake cookies or some damn thing and lets face it, I was 17 and my mom did most of the cooking and I know nothing at all about how to peel a dragonfruit or how to roast a pheasant. So yeah, you want the cashier to credit the produce dept with sales of scallions vs onions or blueberries vs blackberries, you'd best label that stuff. There's also been a trend of advertising how many produce items you stock as if more are better, so you end up stocking weird stuff nobody buys in order to show off, so you've got tarot root and ginger root sitting there for months, right next to the cactus petals and kiwi fruits, and its likely the cashier has no idea what either is, or how to tell tarot and ginger apart.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday September 16 2015, @04:21PM
You're probably meaning a "Cactus Leaf" as opposed to Cactus Flower Petals. Ginger root is a perfectly legitimate thing to have in a grocery store. Taro is much different from Tarot cards. This description of Taro Root tells me why I don't eat Taro and provides me a few good reasons to just avoid it. http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/10/seriously-asian-taro-root.html/ [seriouseats.com] "You may be thinking that with the abundance of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash available during the fall and winter, you're already happy with your repertoire of starches. Why add taro to that list, given that its furry brown surface is actually an irritant to our skin? And its raw flesh is mildly toxic? What's more, like okra, taro flesh is slimy when boiled. Admittedly, taro is not the friendliest of edible roots, but it's well worth the effort. Let me convince you why.The texture of taro is unlike any other root vegetable or squash. Steamed or simmered, taro is soft and almost custard-like, yet still firm and dry at the same time. Its complex flavor makes potatoes, in comparison, not as interesting to eat. Though taro is often said to have no distinctive flavor, the larger varieties possess a slightly fishy, meaty taste that's unique in the root family."
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:32PM
Whoops forgot a 3rd reason, with the rise of self check I've memorized the code for idaho potatoes and coincidentally if what I'm buying has no code sticker or bar code, everything I buy happens to be an idaho potatoe. I won't actively cheat them but they're not paying me to memorize their codes or look them up, and they sure as hell give no discount for self check users, so I use the only code I actually know. Everything in the produce aisle costs about the same per pound anyway.
So if you want to do actual inventory control and tracking, you need to not rely on customers memorizing an entire book of produce codes.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday September 16 2015, @01:14AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-ok-sought-for-laser-labeled-produce/ [cbsnews.com]
http://packaging-matters.blogspot.com/2015/07/stickers-or-lasers-change-in-tracking.html [blogspot.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ethanol on Wednesday September 16 2015, @01:56AM
Whilst some of the stickers are for identifying the product at the checkout, a lot of the ones I see are just "branding".
I used to work in marketing, and I can imagine the pitch to the producer along the lines of you want the consumer to associate your GREAT product with your name. They will seek out YOUR apples next time they buy. Become a brand, not just another apple ... blah blah blah. In reality it is just ego stroking to get the contract, a bit like a picture of the owner of the building on the label or in the ads.
(Score: 3, Informative) by joshuajon on Wednesday September 16 2015, @03:48PM
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday September 16 2015, @10:29PM
No, there are good reasons for making counterfeits easy to identify: quality control. You do not want an important part to be a low-quality Chinese knockoff, for example, and rigorously testing all your items for quality isn't as efficient as scanning a barcode for authenticity. Another example, quickly checking that that 1 TB Seagate hard drive you're buying really is a 1 TB Seagate hard drive and not a 128MB USB stick wedged into a plastic shell---the Chinese are creative in their counterfeiting efforts, if nothing else.
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday September 17 2015, @12:31AM
If you can fake a part, you can fake a barcode.
If you (or your suppliers) are so dumb that they can't tell a 128MB USB stick from a 1 TB drive, then no barcode is going help you or them.
Its easier to fake a bar code than it is to fake a 1 Tbyte drive.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2015, @11:43PM
From the article, the reason they think the counterfeiters won't just copy the barcode is because the scanning equipment is expensive and hard to get.
Which means that few people will be able to verify the barcodes either. So, what's the point?
If a barcode is printed in the forest and no one is around to scan it, does it make a sound?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2015, @11:57PM
I certain cases it can be useful to prove whether you manufactured something or not. Particularly if you are sued over the product's failure.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:11AM
I certain cases it can be useful to prove whether you manufactured something or not. Particularly if you are sued over the product's failure.
That is a valid point and likely that is going to be the manufacturing fields that this tech gets aimed at.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:32AM
> I certain cases it can be useful to prove whether you manufactured something or not. Particularly if you are sued over the product's failure.
So its not about ensuring that a customer can trust the brand, its about making sure they are left without recourse if something goes wrong.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday September 16 2015, @07:40AM
If something does go wrong with a counterfeit product, why should the genuine manufacturer be on the hook? They had nothing to do with the fake.
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2015, @04:31PM
> If something does go wrong with a counterfeit product, why should the genuine manufacturer be on the hook?
Because they failed to protect their brand.
You can't have it both ways - you can't ask people to trust your brand and then let counterfeiters use it.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 16 2015, @05:49AM
No one "manufactures" an apple. Now if my goddamn (what are they called again? The watch that everyone counterfeits?) (Damn, I still cannot think of the brandname! This is such a failure on their part, whoever they are. Here I am, looking to buy a knock-off, and I do not even know what it is that I want a knock-off of! Could it be Gucci? Ugh! Micro$ert? What would be the point? Angie's List? Hmm, might be some action there if you know the right people. Watch. Big. Flashy. Um, , , Rol? Hey, got it! A fake Rolex! Oh, wow, I am so relieved now that I remember what it was that I wanted to fake. But this is the point. Brand names used to be a indicator of quality. Now they are only a indicator of status. Status is very easy to counterfeit, unlike quality. So there is no upside to this. An "authentic" apple has no chance of being much better than a fake one.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:26AM
The equipment needed to create bootleg video game cartridges in 80s and 90s was extremely expensive too, nontheless that didn't stop bootleggers. These guys are in for a nasty surprise.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:05AM
"The resulting indentations in the finished item are difficult to see and impossible to feel" So that means for 99% of the people buying the stuff, they will never know. Much like counterfeit cash, most people dont know its not real, so it spends just like it is.
And of course there are those that dont care if its not real. They cant afford ( or rationalize the cost ) the 'real thing' so copies is all they get.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:42AM
Precisely what I thought. This is something that would serve a pharmaceutical company with its own internal supply chain, or say a government health service buying bulk medication. I don't see the little pharmacist much less the customer justifying the cost of specialized equipment just to make sure the pills he bought are real. On the other hand the scary implication is that pharmaceutical companies or large distributors aren't sure that the medication they are receiving is what they are supposed to be receiving thanks to globalization. But the end users are paying (through the nose) for the pills anyway...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by throwaway28 on Wednesday September 16 2015, @12:33AM
Wirelessly connected scanner ? If forging the barcode is too hard, why not just MITM the wifi or bluetooth link ? A small solar panel, and the MITM circuits, would probably be less than 15 dollars.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ese002 on Wednesday September 16 2015, @01:42AM
Counterfeiting on finished goods is not a serious concern for consumers. If it looks and works like the genuine article, it is a lost sale for the vendor but the consumers does not really care and any encumbrances placed on the consumer to reduce counterfeiting will be resisted. Even if there are no encumbrances, it mostly serves to let the manufacturer off the hook for warranty claims.
Where counterfeiting is a problem is for components, especially when the product is safety related. Things get ugly when a legitimately purchased device fails because the manufacturer build the product out of counterfeit parts that did not meet spec. It is not clear that is something that can practically be used on chips and other components or it would be effective if it is used. Manufacturers can certainly afford the gear to check the bar codes. Unfortunately, electronic component counterfeiters also have substantial resources to put toward subverting the system.
(Score: 5, Touché) by deimios on Wednesday September 16 2015, @04:05AM
You got the perfect anti counterfit 3D barcode design? Good, ship it to China so they can print it on the back of the new iPhones after manufacturing. I'm 100% sure it will be safe.