So, I just had a random thought and hope this board is the correct place for it. You do have some high-tech stuff here, so I think it's at least somewhat appropriate.
How likely would it be to create a system that scans a signature on a piece of paper and then perfectly replicates it with a pen?
I can't even begin to think how I would use such a thing, as I'm not sociopathic enough, but it seems to be a fun thought excercise to relate technological progress to long-standing legal practice. I'd be surprised if no one has tried this yet and if the law doesn't have something to say about it, but then again, I'm constantly baffled by certain technologies apparently not being in active use anywhere.
I imagine a signature forging device would work best by scanning the page on both sides to find the exact depth of the imprint, as well as having presets for different kinds of paper to interpret the scan properly.
To then write the signature, it would have a bunch of presets that can identify the guiding lines of a signature field, if available, with a camera, as well as a randomizing algorithm to make the signature a plausible variation of a person's signature.
Would a system similar to a 3D printer's axes be enough to forge a signature or would you need something capable of changing the angle of the pen for proper effect?
Pic maybe related.
sure it's possible, but pointless, since copying it by hand would be a lot faster and easier
So you want to make a Autopen
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopen
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/president-obamas-autopen-when-is-an-autograph-not-an-autograph-574822/
Sounds like they beat you to it op
So here is the deal. The ONLY use for forging signatures is to make fake autographs from famous people with well known signatures.
It is useless for artists since it would be a tied to a piece of work that would also have to pass.
It would be useless for most modern celebrities since a large portion of the value of a signature is the story associated with it and since their signature isn't generally worth that much.
It would be useless to forge legal documents since anything of any real importance needs to be notarized.
It would be useless for financial fraud (checks and shit) since those signatures aren't even looked at unless fraud is reported and even then a real investigation would be launched.
So basically the only place it would make sense to do this is autographs from deceased people. Even then, how many autographs from George Washington do you realistically could pass off before you were called out? Not to mention it would be much cheaper to just find the signature and copy it using a light table.
>>963782
I guess it's one of those things that are possible, but not feasible. As other anons pointed out:
-there are people who can forge signatures perfectly. The only problem for them is that they need to see the signature to copy it, so when the authorities want to check if it's a forgery they just have a person sign 50 or 60 blank papers one after another, and after each signature they take the paper away so you can't see it.
-how much money and time do you think it will take to R&D a system that can measure all the needed parameters (shape, pressure, stroke direction, line width) and correct for age, paper, pen, ink?
