This little silk tag with a QR code is a security measure that could reveal if the whiskey you're wanting to buy is fake. Simply using a smartphone to scan the tag, which was developed by biomedical engineers from Purdue University and the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in South Korea, could confirm the drink's authenticity.
[...] The code on the fluorescent silk tag is the equivalent of a barcode or QR code and is not visible to the naked eye. The tags are also edible, causing no issues if a person swallowed it while downing a shot of whiskey. The tags have not affected the taste of the whiskey.
[...] Kim and Leem placed tags in various brands and price points of whiskey (80 proof, 40% alcohol per volume) over a 10-month period and were able to continually activate the tags and codes with a smartphone app.
One of the ways of bringing this issue to light is to literally shine a light on the tags. The team developed ways and methods for the tags to be activated by smartphones in a variety of light settings.
Kim said the tags are an additional authentication mechanism for marked safety seals on bottles or pills and could help by being placed in high-dollar bottles of alcohol or on expensive medications individually.
Journal Reference:
Jung Woo Leem et al. Edible Matrix Code with Photogenic Silk Proteins. ACS Cent. Sci., 2022. DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.1c01233
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:13PM (31 children)
whoever wrote that article is a moron. it's like they're not even trying to sell me on it.
what's valuable about this?
how is this any better than a QR code sticker applied to the bottle? is it merely that the novel construction technique makes it harder to counterfeit than an OVD/hologram sticker?
(Score: 2, Touché) by Freeman on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:23PM
Think of this along the lines of anti-theft devices and their marketing. Now, you have a clearer picture of their selling points.
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: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:29PM (25 children)
It is INSIDE the bottle, not something that is just stuck on the outside.
Did you read the linked material? I guess not.
And it appears that at least one person who read the summary is not very bright either. The linked material is there for a reason.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:34PM (14 children)
what's the benefit of it being inside of the bottle?
(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:42PM (8 children)
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:50PM (2 children)
thank you for your suggestion. before commenting at all, i did indeed read both articles linked (the sciencedaily article and the purdue press release). i also read the source material published in ACS and am still skeptical.
consider a traditional QR code affixed to the exterior of a liquor bottle with the following characteristics:
a) not easy to counterfeit (OVD/holographic and is linked to an online db via a scanner app), b) tamper-evident, and c) not easy to remove (e.g. glued onto the bottle with resin)
how is the novel solution an improvement over existing technology? i'm not seeing it. are you?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:28PM
Na, it's just another trite use for toy smart phones, to keep smart phone owners feeling all smug about owning their fancy toys.
Also, apparently nothing but an Apple or Android smart phone can process QR codes. Who knew?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @04:53PM
A QR code is just a printed set of data that can be copied and re-printed. So I guess if you were evil and copied the QR code from a legit bottle to a batch of fakes, then how is that going to help?
To answer my own question, maybe they could include intelligence in the Web site that processes the QR code query and say "this was previously scanned on date MM/DD/YYYY from IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX and then you'd have an idea that somebody already checked that bottle and thus it was not the original, but that seems like it is kind of too late because they already purchased it at that point. Also, if they are stupid in the implementation and make the URL components sequential or otherwise easy to guess, then someone could just query all of their codes and invalidate that as a useful feature. So...I still don't see how it would work.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:30PM (3 children)
Nothing in that quotation addresses the question.
When people sell counterfeit whisky, they are already putting something inside the bottle -- the whisky.
So how does the tag being inside the bottle come into play? What is the actual attack being mitigated here? If I copy an existing QR code, my copy will be scanned as being authentic just as the original would be, regardless of whether it is inside or outside the bottle. It seems like the only significant deterrent here is simply that manufacturing a counterfeit silk authenticity tag would be somewhat inconvenient. But if anything, putting it inside the bottle is an advantage for the counterfeiter because you can't touch the tag to see if it feels like the official ones. You have to estimate the material visually, through distorted glass and a dark colored liquid.
So, again, what is the value of being inside the bottle that makes it so remarkable that you pointed it out as some self-evident benefit. A lot of us are clearly not seeing the value.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @10:12PM (2 children)
Because, they wouldn't have a valid tag to put in there.
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Thursday June 09 2022, @06:32AM (1 child)
And why wouldn't they? All it takes is to buy a single bottle of genuine whiskey, read out the tag, and create a copy.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @04:58PM
How are you making this tag? Not printing it to paper, for sure. What ink are you using? Got to be three colors and not run/bleed/fade in a 40% ethanol solution. The "all it takes" part of your statement is where all the hard stuff is, and that's the part that this research is about.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @10:15PM
No, you may not. What kind of an editor are you? Read the fine article, when the summary is already incoherent? If you need an edible silk QR code to tell you your whiskey is authentic, you probably are drinking over-priced swill.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:46PM (3 children)
Why do i get the feeling that we are being trolled.....? Perhaps I am just tired.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @10:18PM (2 children)
Happening a lot, recently, eh jan? May I suggest better quality control on the stories, and avoiding non-technical ones like this.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @02:47AM
Come on, Runaway, why are you hiding behind AC?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday June 09 2022, @05:16AM
It is a technical story - it explains a non-trivial solution to a genuine problem, it is accompanied by credible scientific research and, importantly, it was chosen and submitted by a community member.
That it is not to your personal taste is hardly surprising. If you want a different content, perhaps more political, then maybe you should go and find that site elsewhere; this site certainly isn't it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:36PM
It means that a distributor or retailer can't label swap a cheap bottle for an expensive one. The safety seal should already protect against most other tampering with the contents in the bottle. Do, theoretically, you would know that the bottle is how it was packaged and that it's accurately labeled according to the bottler.
It's an arms race, do I'm sure it won't be enough in cases where s criminal gang is selling knockoffs that they themselves bottled.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:28PM (7 children)
Being inside the bottle doesn't matter. This is aimed to prevent forgeries of the stupidly overpriced bottles aimed at collectors and rich idiots.
If you're going to fake a $10k bottle of Macallan, you're already prepared to fake fancy labels and such. Faking one more thingies in the bottle? Easy peasy. It doesn't even have to be terribly exact, because no one is going to open the bottle to look at it.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:41PM (5 children)
It definitely does matter, putting it inside makes it harder to do as you'd then have to have the means to put a new safety seal on, and presumably, that would need to match the one inside the bottle as well. If the contents of expensive enough to justify this, then I see no reason why they wouldn't both be crypto signed by the bottler. The one inside might be removable, but it's tough to replace a broken seal in a believable way.
The goal isn't perfection, it's to make the process enough of a pain that nobody tries.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 08 2022, @09:13PM (4 children)
You don't appear to be thinking this through.
You're a counterfeit booze maker. You need to copy a QR code, so you can make your own. So, you go to the package store, and legally purchase a bottle with the QR code inside. Bring it back to the shop, and pour out the contents. Fish out the QR code thingy, study it, copy it, do quality control on your imitations, until they pass inspection at least 80% of the time. Produce your own thingies a thousand at a time, and stick them in bottles a thousand at a time.
If you find that you simply cannot counterfeit it properly, just outsource it to China. Or India.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @10:15PM (3 children)
I think it's great that you don't think anybody has thought of that, it's a qr code, you don't think it's possible to embed a signature as part of the code? It's likely always going to be possible to counterfeit things, point is to run the profitability of it
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 08 2022, @10:33PM (1 child)
Don't worry, when you outsource it to India, it will be profitable.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @01:19AM
Runaway is not thinking, or through.
_______
it’s time to call the Republican Party what it is: a criminal enterprise embracing fascism to hang onto power, a threat to our republic, and a danger to all life on Earth.
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Thursday June 09 2022, @06:38AM
A QR code is just digital data. And counterfeiting here means just making an exact copy. How exactly does a signature prevent you from making an exact copy?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @09:07PM
The point here is that you don't need to open the bottle to check the code. You can try faking your own code to put in the bottle, but you have to be clever enough to make it out of something that won't degrade in ethanol and it has to have a code that passes whatever security is implemented there.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:46PM (1 child)
So I have to squeeze it into the bottle to dupe my customer into thinking it's genuine?
You do know that the bar owner opens the bottle long before you order your whiskey, yes?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @11:36PM
the idea is for buying expensive bottles of unopened spirits einstein
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:40PM (3 children)
I was going back and forth on this myself. I had to dig into the paper to see what they were getting at. They made the point that labels, such as QR codes, that are external to a package can be easily tampered with. Much of the paper is tilted towards using on-dose codes for medication, so you could scan a tiny code on your pill and authenticate it with a phone app. They also note that most liquid medicines have high alcohol content, so they tested the validation of the liquid part on whiskey. The example they use is that you can go into your local bottle shop, pick up the $200 bottle of scotch, and check the QR code that is at the bottom of the bottle, through the bottle, without opening it up. So to tamper with it by using a fake QR code, you'd have to come up with something that would not only have a code that would validate, but you'd have to make one that could stand up to being in a high ethanol liquid without fading or falling apart.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @07:49PM (2 children)
>> you'd have to make one that could stand up to being in a high ethanol liquid without fading or falling apart.
Not if your fake whiskey bottle was filled with water... you would make a terrible criminal, no imagination.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:45PM
Yes, but presumably, it wouldn't just be this inside the bottle, it would also be the tamper evident seal as well. And if you're already going to this trouble, you might as well cryptographically sign both. So, then you'd have to remove and replace the tamper evident seal and the code inside the bottle and do it without messing up the labeling either.
Of course that's going to be possible, but hardly trivial.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @08:36AM
Water if it was vodka.
Pee if it was bourbon, whiskey, or fine cognac.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday June 08 2022, @08:56PM (2 children)
It's in Whiskey. Should it not be drinkable rather then eatable then? I kind of prefer my Whiskey without chunks in it.
Also how do they prevent the alcohol from, eventually, dissolving the tag (if it is edible)?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @09:10PM (1 child)
Ah, but that is one of the whole points of this research!
It isn't meant to be eaten, but it is edible in the event that it does get swallowed. ("Hey, that's not a worm!")
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @12:08AM
It's probably still readable when it comes out the other end.
I've already seen a dog pass a chicken soakey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2022, @11:40PM (1 child)
qr code? haven't they heard all the cool kids authenticate via nfts?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @12:35AM
I'm still reading that as NTFS. Gonna take me a while to deprogram myself.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday June 09 2022, @12:19AM
They track everything.
A bottle of booze is kid's play.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2022, @04:10AM
Interesting how it applies Red, Green, and Blue Filters (and R/G/B specific florescent dyes) to bring up different codes. My first look at the articles showed a low-data matrix code, good for maybe only 12-16 bits of information-- but tripling up like that would make a strong-enough hash.