Microprinting - can you do it yourself?

Factual Questions
21

Most of what the OP needed has been answered, and I’m certainly not trying to say that paper is “better”, or can replace digital information. I disagree (and so do conservation professionals) that paper has no place.

There are some situations where a CD would make it through a disaster, and some where paper would. Break a CD in half, and kiss that data goodbye. It’s best to have both.

astro, I wasn’t saying PageMaker files were typical, but pointing out that in practice – in a real world situation – I’ve got dozens of CDs, dozens of floppies for backups. And three cardboards box of paper that duplicate them. Ok, so the paper takes up 40 times the space. I wasn’t trying to save space.

sailor Your first cite includes this:

“A signature digest produced by Signature Dynamics technology may be considered unique to the person using it, if:
the signature digest records the handwriting measurements of the person signing the document using signature dynamics technology, and the signature digest is cryptographically bound to the handwriting measurements, and after the signature digest has been bound to the handwriting measurements, it is computationally infeasible to separate the handwriting measurements and bind them to a different signature digest.”

Very interesting, but this is a technique that a typical user or business is supposed to understand?

If I get a piece of paper from a lawyer, and it’s properly signed and dated, I know it’s legal. If it’s transfered to digital format, I haven’t got a clue, and I surely would not want to become involved in a semantic argument in court over the niceities of whether my “signature digest” was of the proper format. IMAGINE trying to explain that to a jury.

To quote a report by The Commission on Preservation and Access, which is given as one of the links of the Library of Congress’s “Achival Preservation Menu”, "Rapid changes in the means of recording information, and in the formats for storage and in the technologies for use threaten to render the life of information in the digital age, to borrow a phrase from Hobbes, “nasty, brutish, and short.” www.rlg.org/ArchTF/

I.e., there’s still a place for paper. Ok?

22

>> If I get a piece of paper from a lawyer, and it’s properly signed and dated, I know it’s legal.
>> .e., there’s still a place for paper. Ok?

I said that was a straw man and I’ll say it again. The OP asked about backing up computer data on paper and your examples do not fit that scenario at all. It is straw man ok? You are talking about a document which is on paper to begin with. Yes paper has its place (a roll, just by the toilet) but not as a backup medium for computer data!

23

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

To expand on my previous post: There are no circumstances under which
backing up computer data to paper makes any sense whatsoever. Just
entering all the data again would be a nightmare. It makes zero sense
and nobody does it. You will not find a single company which prints
out their computer data as a way of assuring they will not lose it.

Documents which are originally on paper are not backups of computer
data so that is a straw man if ever there was one. Paper still has
its place. A note on the door of the store saying “out to lunch, back
at 1:30” is on paper but it is not a backup of computer data. The car
rental contract I signed this morning on paper is not a backup of
computer data.

partly_warmer, it helps if you know what you are talking about.
Obviously you do not have a clue about how digital signatures work
but you could at least make an effort to learn a bit before you try to
argue against them.

Let’s start with this: millions of contracts are made daily over the
Internet with no signature on paper required and they are just as
valid. They are never printed on paper and they do not need to be
printed on paper to be valid. Just go to Amazon or ebay or paypal.
There are contracts made with no paper support. Now tell me amazon or
ebay make backups on paper. I just transferred money over the
internet with no paper support. A couple weeks ago I bought airline
tickets over the internet. I do not think anyone is not aware of all
the e-commerce going on.

Further, large companies have been using electronic purchase orders
for some time now (I first saw them about 12-14 years ago). These
have more stringent requirements than small online purchases as far as
verification and signing. A digitally signed document (this does not
mean what you think it means so please learn a bit more about this) is
just as valid legally as a paper document. The signer cannot deny the
signature. Millions of these orders, acknowledgements and other
documents are exchanged and they never see paper form. The fact that
you are ignorant of this does not mean it is not happening.

Have you not seen when you download a program the digital signatures
and certificates? Have you never heard of Verisign? What world do
you live in?

Just a few days ago I went to Western Union web site to send some
money and the digital signature did not match. I do not know the
cause but just in case I had been redirected to some bogus site I
decided to not continue. I still have the captured screen: “This
certificate has failed to verify for all its intended purposes. Issued
to wumt.westernunion.com. Issued by Verisign. Valid from 3/15/02 to
3/16/03. . . etc” Do you want to proceed? - - No thanks.

The fact that you are ignorant about digital signatures does not mean
it is something obscure and out of reach. Millions of people use
digital signatures daily and you can just do a Net search to learn
about them. They have been discussed on this board and many people
here know how they work and use them. many more use them in their
computer without even knowing the technical aspect.

For computer data, which is what we are talking about, backing up on
paper substrate is just a ridiculous idea. You are just trying to
contrive a situation where it might make sense. The fact that you
consider it a good idea does not mean it is a good idea. Rather it
means your knowledge about computers is seriously lacking. Show me
any professional who actually does it or who even thinks it is a good
idea.

And just to show you how a digital signature works, I am signing this
text with my PGP digital signature. There is no way anyone else can
forge this signature so there is no way I can deny having written this
because there is no way you can alter a single character of the text
and have the signature still verify. I cannot say I did not make a
tyypo which shows up and it must have been added by a glitch on the
way or by the evil hamster. If a single bit changes then the
signature will not verify.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 5.5.3i for non-commercial use <http://www.pgpi.com>

iQA/AwUBPWiRo8XdkMtoOh9OEQLnsgCeJTr0URlDILrc1zMlsJdzA5/Up+IAoIKp
f1pBggVgE25Dx3NHhzVUBXER
=hkqy
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

24

Even though the text is correct the above signature does not verify. I guess the server introduced some change in the End Of Line characters or other formatting. In email or as attached files I use digital signatures all the time without problems but I guess you cannot digitally sign a hamster.

You can find a digitally signed message by Phil Zimmerman, the developer of PGP, at http://www.kb2nsx.org/przadk.html That one does verify.

25

Aha! it was the bold tags that changed (of course!) so the text did not verify. You can find the original text and signature which does verify here.

26

So sailor, I guess you’ve never heard of anyone using outlook (or a pda) that keeps a rolodex backup…what world are you living in?

27

Yes, I confess I keep my girlfriend’s phone number on a yellow post-it note on my monitor but I do not consider it as a backup. Normally I dial the number using the PC but very ocassionally I would have to turn the PC on just to dial so I wrote it on a post-it note and now I can dial by hand. It is not a backup as much as a more convenient way of accessing the information.

When you print a document using Word or Excel or your PDA you are not backing up the file, rather you are getting the resulting document of the work you did just like when you print a picture or graphic you are not backing up the original file. Some of the information is in there and a lot is not. Reconstructing an Excel worksheet, formatting and all, from the printed result would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. When you print a photo you are not backing up the original photo file which you cannot recover just by scanning the printed photo. And good luck backing up a music file to paper.

The spreadsheet where I keep my financial information is now 625KB. To have a backup on paper I would have to encode it with UUEncode or similar and that would add about 37% so my paper backup of just this one file would be 856KB of text like this:



/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wBDABALDA4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkz
ODdASFxOQERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVGC8aGi9jQjhCY2NjY2Nj
Y2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2NjY2P/wAARCACyAN8DASIA
AhEBAxEB/8QAHwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQFBgcICQoL/8QAtRAAAgEDAwIEAwUFBAQA
AAF9AQIDAAQRBRIhMUEGE1FhByJxFDKBkaEII0KxwRVS0fAkM2JyggkKFhcYGRolJicoKSo0NTY3
ODk6Q0RFRkdISUpTVFVWV1hZWmNkZWZnaGlqc3R1dnd4eXqDhIWGh4iJipKTlJWWl5iZmqKjpKWm

At 75 chrs/line that would be 11,400 lines of text or about 50 pages. If I back up every day the cost of printing would be about $5/day or $1500/year. If I back up weekly it would be $200/year. For one freaking file! If I wanted to back up my entire hard disk like that it would be totally impossible. And yet I can back up my entire hard disk to a few CD-Rs very easily.

Now suppose I need to restore from my paper backup. How much would someone charge to key in 850 KB of data? (Good luck using a scanner on that type of data.) The recovery cost would be astronomical. If you think all this makes better sense than backing up to CDroms and to other servers, then ok, fine. If you interview for a job in a computer department, in the interview don’t forget to tell them about this neat idea of yours of paper backups. See what chances you have of getting the job. Be sure to tell them how you saved untold megabytes of MP3s to paper. They’ll appreciate how resourceful you are. Why bother with CD-R or network servers when you can have so much fun with paper?

Yes, some people may actually save “backups” of large files on printed paper but that does not prove it makes sense. It probably shows how ignorant they are of how to effectively use a computer. Just last week I came across someone who did not know to use ctrl-C and ctrl-V to copy and paste and he just typed in everything. I found out because he forwarded an email to me and introduced an error. The fact that some people do this does not mean it makes any sense to do it. The fact that some people do not know what is the most efficient way to back up data does not mean their way makes any sense.

Perforated paper tape or cards would make much more sense than printed paper and yet, when was the last time these were used? I remember about 1980 using a highly sophisticated reader for TTY type tape. It was already outdated then. Anyone who is seriously saying printed paper is a good way to back up any significant amount of computer data is either very ignorant or very stupid and possibly both.

28

sailor, what I originally said was that I did not know of a CD being notarized. Not the contents. The plastic disc itself. I cannot get my notary to put his seal on a plastic disk, proving that it was written by a certain date. The OP is a businessman, he’s not trying to be a digital security guru.

The OP was asking, in effect, what a prudent business plan was, and he clearly was thinking about paper. The fact that you disagree with the Library of Congress and other conservationists’ concerns that digital information needs paper backup suggests you aren’t receptive to practice. Popup was on the mark with some concerns. I have little or no ability to read digital data on formats from 20 years ago. I had to throw the reel-to-reel tapes out. I’ve several floppies from 10 years ago that are unreadable. Work I did just 2 years ago is no longer available to me, because the software to read it is prohibitively expensive. (Database software might be such an example, I worked with a system that became “unusable” because it wouldn’t work without a $12,000 database upgrade.) Contrarily, I have documents written on cheap paper from 180 years ago that show no sign of deteriorating.

There are credit card purchases, contracts sent by wire, but it’s still the fact that when important legal documents like patents, wills, trusts and the like are drawn up, they’re often on paper (and digital). Sent by certified mail. Signed with a pen and returned. You’ll have to trust me on this, I’m not publishing my legal documents.

I’ve been in the computer field for 20 years, filed patents, worked on high NASA security risk projects, done computer backups galore, collaborated with someone who as it happens also wrote a recent book on Internet security, I’ve written documents for public disclosure about security implementations, etc. You may know more about digital security than I, but then again…

29

Back to the OP:

It’s not even a plug-in, but an already built-in. Assuming you have MS Word, of course.

I use MS Word 2000. Do FILE | Print…, and the Print dialogue window comes up. In the lower right corner is the Zoom function which will allow you to print up to 16 thumbnail pages on a single sheet. On a LaserJet, 8 pages per sheet is still easily readable, and 16 takes some effort. With magnification, reading it wouldn’t be a problem at all.

And that’s just using ordinary 10 or 12 point font size.

30

>> what I originally said was that I did not know of a CD being notarized. Not the contents. The plastic disc itself. I cannot get my notary to put his seal on a plastic disk, proving that it was written by a certain date.

Why on Earth would anyone want to do that? It is the information that you would want to verify and time-stamp and you can do that. In any case, this is a straw man, totally unrelated to the OP, which is asking about backing up computer data to paper by printing it. He does not intend to notarise anything and it would make no sense to do it anyway. What would he notarise? That those printed pages were a backup of his data on the disk? It makes no sense and it is entirely irrelevant. A big straw man. Please drop it. The OP is asking about backing up computer data to paper. Please address the OP and quit building irrelevant arguments.

>> The OP is a businessman, he’s not trying to be a digital security guru. The OP was asking, in effect, what a prudent business plan was, and he clearly was thinking about paper.

Totally irrelevant to whether the idea of backing data on paper is good or not, practical or not. Not an argument in support of the idea.

>> The fact that you disagree with the Library of Congress and other conservationists’ concerns that digital information needs paper backup suggests you aren’t receptive to practice.

The LoC does not backup their computer data on paper so please quit making up arguments. The OP clearly says it is for day to day backups in case he should be without a computer. The LoC most assuredly does not back up its computer data to paper and, even if it did, the OP is not the LoC nor anything resembling the LoC. The OP is about something very different: backing up computer data for the short term. If he is thinking of posterity he needs to think of special paper, special ink etc and that is clearly and expressly not what he is thinking as you know very well. The OP states a very clear scenario and all your solutions are for totally different needs and situations. First the guy is not a security guru and now his needs are that of the LoC. Gimme a break. You know very well it makes no sense.

>>Work I did just 2 years ago is no longer available to me, because the software to read it is prohibitively expensive.

You say that in support of your credentials in this topic? Well, ok then. You clearly demonstrate you are not good at looking ahead and making sure the data will be available. OTOH, I have all my data from the very beginning of the DOS age and even earlier. Some of it has migrated trough several programs and formats other I just dumped into plain text files (which is all you can preserve on paper). They are all with me and I have so many backups on different media that they are much safer than if they were on paper. Text files from 20 years ago are readable today and they will be readable in 20 years’ time. Just keep transferring them from one computer to the next.

>> There are credit card purchases, contracts sent by wire, but it’s still the fact that when important legal documents like patents, wills, trusts and the like are drawn up, they’re often on paper (and digital). Sent by certified mail. Signed with a pen and returned. You’ll have to trust me on this, I’m not publishing my legal documents.

Gawd, I do not know how to say it again. This is totally and absolutely irrelevant to the OP. A contract on paper is not a backup of computer data and so this is totally freaking irrelevant to the OP.

Sheesh, I tell you what, I give up. We are clearly wasting time here and just repeating ourselves. The readers of the thread can decide for themselves. I trust they can tell the difference between an original document and backing up computer data. You obviously have difficulty with this.

31

Well, if you need a timed and dated copy of your data, I’d just burn a compact disk, write up a signed and dated letter describing the disk’s contents, then plunk them both in an envelope and mail them to myself. If some legal challenge ever arises, you can open the sealed (and postmarked) envelope in the presence of an attorney or arbitrator. The disk costs you 50 cents, the letter and envelope are negligible and the postage less than a buck. This is the cheapest simplest way I know of to time-stamp material in a way a court will recognize.

The ability of people to make things more complicated and expensive than necessary is astounding.

32

This thread has raised an interesting topic but let’s not get sidetracked or confused. Document authentication has nothing to do with the OP which is about backing up computer data. Having said that, I will address the issue of time stamping and authenticating digital data because it is an interesting topic but please keep it separate from the OP matter.

Bryan, your solution would work but I can think of several others which are even easier. It all depends on the importance of the data and the level of credibility you need.

You can have a file digitally timestamped and signed by a comercial entity like Verisign or by an attorney or notary public. That can be done from your computer and the signatures are legal. For anything of any importance this would be the way to go but if the matter is not worth spending any money on, you can have other people digitally timestamp and sign your file. Note the file can be encrypted so they do not even need to know what the document contains. You can send me an encrypted document and I can add the time and my digital signature. My weight in court may not be the same as that of a notary but I am an independent witness. You can have your boss or your pastor digitally sign it.

Suppose I have no money and no friends. Look at my digitally signed post above. I can post just the digital signature of any document and that would be sufficient proof that the document existed when the post was made without need to post the entire document. (Unless you can prove I have access to the servers or I bribed the mods and they modified the post for me.)

Still another free option: Suppose I want to have proof that I wrote a certain document by today. I digitally sign it and I append the digital signature only (no need for the entire document) to an email I send to any entity that will serve as proof. I can email the White House, or Microsoft, or my ISP and add that signature at the end. When they respond, most times automatically, they append the original text at the end and the email will be timestamped and there will be a record of it at the other end which will serve as proof.

I can also upload to servers which timestamp the uploads. I have backup files stored in Yahoo and they are all time stamped with the upload date. I have no way to change that timestamp unless I am a Yahoo employee.

Finally, contrary to what has been said in this thread, you can take a CD-R and have a notary public notarise it’s existance. I do not know if all CDR are so but all the ones I have here have a different serial number which can be recorded and you can write on them. I can’t see why a notary public would not sign a CDR and affidavit its existance.

Digital signatures are as legal as signatures on paper. They are not more widely used because most people like to stick with what they already know. You can get around life refusing to use answering machines and faxes and digital signatures and many people do, but your employment prospects are much better the more things you can handle. A few years ago I still came across people who would say proudly “Oh, I know nothing about computers!”. Those people are more and more rare. Digital signatures will gain more and more ground as people learn to use them and realise they can sign a document over the Internet instantly rather than heve it sent back and forth by courier. People are using the technology even if they don’t know it. Every time you connect to a secure web site your browser is using public key encryption. Every time you download signed software your computer is verifying the digital signature.

33

sailor’s lively banter with partly_warmer has brought up some interesting points. I mostly agree with sailor on a personal level but let me give you an example where your arguments fail.

I work for a Indian-owned casino whose operation is heavily regulated by the state. The agreement with the state is that we will keep 5 years of reports (computer generated or not) on paper. My department (Information Technology) has argued futilely with the State Gaming Commission that there are cheaper and easier methods to store the computer generated reports (mostly AS/400 mainframe and Excel), namely on magnetic or optical media. No dice. Apparently my state has not fully embraced the digital age yet. As a result our finance department has a huge warehouse overflowing with boxes of paper and we’re still running out of room. We haven’t even been open for 5 years yet!

If the OP’s business is in any way regulated by the government it would be in his/her best interest to check with them first to see what sort of media is acceptable to them. It’s no fun to be audited and find out that your “backups” are not acceptable.

34

Horseflesh, obviously if you have a legal requirement to keep some paper records then , well, you are required. You have to comply. That just means you comply with a requirement. Those papers are not kept as backup of computer data, they are kept to comply with a requirement.

The fact that the US embassy in Nairoby requires you to make all payments to their account in Bank X in the form of a certified check does not mean that is the best way to do it when they do not require it. Would you tell your customers to pay you with a certified check in Nairobi because that’s how the US guvment does it and it must be good?

I know paper. I have worked in the aerospace sector and there was a lot of documentation we had to keep on paper for traceability. We were buried in paper. This does not mean paper is a good form of backing up computer data, it means paper serves a different purpose. Those records on paper are not backups of computer data in any way. They are records in their own right.

35

>> an example where your arguments fail.

No, my argument does not fail, your example is totally different. It is not about backing up computer data. The OP is very clear that he is not about complying with any legal requirement. (Although it would be fun to tell the government guy “here’s a microscope, see if you can read this”)

Before I had a laptop I very often printed loads of data in tiny print when I travelled on business because I hate lugging paper around. So there are circumstances when printing in small print makes sense. It does not make sense if your purpose is strictly data backup.

Yes paper has its place and its uses but if we are talking strictly about backing up digital data you cannot say “well you can wipe your ass with paper, now try wiping your ass with a CDROM”.