PREVENTING PAPERS FROM BEING COPIED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301420002-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 10, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301420002-8
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
This is Business Times STATION WETA-TV
NPR Network
DATE October 10, 1984 4:30 PM
Preventing Papers From Being Copied
Washington, DC
BARBARA MANTELL: Earlier in the show, we told you
about the problems National Semi-Conductor had with secret
documents being mistakenly made public and then copied.
Well, a Japanese firm has developed a product that
prevents papers from being copied. .
Our Tokyo correspondent, Rich Varner, visited the
RICH VARNER: In a world with a copying machine in
every office, protecting secret documents is no easy matter.
But, a tiny Osaka-based company has set out to do just this.
Our recent trip to Osaka of Business Times visited
Kyso Kassa[?], a firm of only 14 employees and capitalized at
just $24,000. Specializing in plastic films for overhead
projectors and other applications, Kyso Kassa has developed a
polyester film for protecting secret documents, and presently
holds patents in eight countries.
To prevent copying, the film uses color coding and
metalization techniques. It's easily applied, but permanently
bonded to the surface of a secret document.
In demonstration, first an unprotected page is copied
followed by a protected page. The attempted copy is totally
blackened by the film.
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
- . . .- - -_ - -. -.,...,.. ~.,, ..~..,,,,t~ ~~~ -'A .,, .~o,.,.,n~t-ted or exhibited,
Material Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301420002-8
 Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301420002-8
The spokesman says that the challenge lies in develop-
ing a film that prevents copying but still allows the original
to be read. This requires a combination of colorization to
absorb the incoming light, and metalilzation to reflect the
light.
To do this, the top of the film is coated with a red
pigment, and the bottom is metalized with an aluminum layer.
The pigment absorbs, the aluminum reflects.
Under normal reading conditions, this combination
still lets enough light pass for the document underneath to be
legible. Using a light table makes it easier to read. The
technique sounds simple enough, but, in fact, there are a
number of difficulties, such as specifications which vary from
copier-to-copier.
The first sample film worked on some copiers, but not
on others. The answer was to introduce five different types of
films and let the user choose the appropriate one.
The spokesman tells how surprised they were to find
the majority of inquiries coming from overseas. Apart from the
likely protectors of secrets, like national intelligence
agencies, there were a number of private firms, many of them
Mideast, that were eager to protect themselves from employees
who carried copies of secret documents when they changed jobs.
In total, several hundred inquiries have been re-
The first shipments of the no-copy film are underway.
The cost is about $1 per letter-size page. Still, there is a
much larger market, the demand for which is to prevent the
illegal duplication of not top secret but merely copyrighted
materials.
To satisfy this demand, Kyso Kassa must make the
protected original easier to read at a price that will invite
very largescale production. That's the challenge. The demand
by copyright holders is huge.
MANTELL: That was Tokyo correspondent Rich Varner.
Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301420002-8