
The Font Detectives - sohkamyung
https://daily.jstor.org/the-font-detectives/
======
akersten
The problem with technological smoking guns is that, however believable to
those in-the-know they may appear, it's still a human problem to convince a
layperson of their gravity. For example, the same technique was used to prove
corruption in Pakistan [0], but a court rejected the evidence. Whether that is
because they did not understand it, or were corrupt themselves, is another
question.

[0] [https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15961354/pakistan-
calibri...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15961354/pakistan-calibri-font-
scandal-forged-documents)

------
ZebZ
I'm reminded of the "Rathergate" incident that got Dan Rather fired from CBS,
where they went to air with documents critical of George Bush that were
clumsily faked, purporting that a typewritten document from 1973 used Times
New Roman in the exact same size and spacing of Word's default settings.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents_authenticity...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents_authenticity_issues)

~~~
jackfoxy
I remember being astonished when I first saw images of the purported
documents. I could not believe this got past anyone at CBS news, let alone Dan
Rather. Did they have no memory of what manual typewriter type face looked
like?

------
rudiv
I'm surprised this article doesn't mention (to my mind) the most notable
recent example of font detective work - the document(s) printed in Calibri
that purportedly predated its release that were evidence in the corruption
case(s) against Nawaz Sharif & family/associates.

------
dsfyu404ed
With VMs and whatnot it's easier than ever to type up your fake vintage
documents using the software of the day. As always the lazy crooks get caught.

~~~
Wistar
It is somewhat harder to find a daisywheel printer upon which to print them.

------
PorterDuff
I'd like to talk to a real expert in the shapes on tracking the copying over
time.

Years and years ago I remember watching typefaces get hand traced and then
edited on in-house software running on a Tektronix storage tube.

~~~
tempguy9999
This?
<[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_tube>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_tube>)

You saw people using _that_?

~~~
bluenose69
I spent many fine hours using on of those Tek terminals. The screen didn't
scroll, but just kept drawing again from the top. There was a button you'd
press to clear it, but people often didn't bother doing that until the
redrawing made the content incomprehensible. This was back in the day when
"vi" was considered an abomination, because it wasted so much effort redrawing
the screen, when the "proper" way was to do line-by line changes, with ex. Oh,
the good old days.

~~~
tempguy9999
I was somewhat confusing them with storage tubes per the wiki article title
but I didn't realise the tech was still around like that in the 70s! Thought
it had gone long before then.

I too was taught to use ed at university and don't consider it time wasted,
but I'm well chuffed that better stuff (macs) were coming in then. I actually
had the questionable good fortune to use ed on a paper teletype for an hour.
Then, staring down at it, my neck cricked and I had to stop.

AIUI ed (or something simpler) on paper teletypes was what original unix might
have been written on - good times!

Not.

