Document Printing Made Secure
Document Printing Made Secure
Reprinted by Technology Transfer Group October 2003
Newly patented by Polestar is DocuLock™, a solution to the problem of verification that a document is indeed the one intended. “This need develops,” says Polestar, “particularly as more and more documents are produced on desktop printers – and comes to the forefront in the final steps of managing documents that are digitally secure until the local recipient decides to print them.
“At present, when instructed to print the secure document, the recipient’s computer will do so – and as many times as instructed. In addition to the unauthorized number of apparently real documents, the present system leaves open the possibility of changes made before the printer is activated and therefore invalid documents appearing real.”
DocuLock is a computer system with a special secure printer, which is equipped with a digital ‘watermarking’ capability that will mark ordinary paper in a unique way that can be forensically proven as to be the one original document intended. Computers are used to originate or process nearly every document in use. The DocuLock printer can be addressed, linked to the document source certification, and then print one and only one securely marked ‘original’. It can be arranged to print only if the file is from a selected source, only if it has not been opened, print only one document – and with a security mark that can be forensically validated.