Photocopiers have become so good they are a counterfeiter's dream.

These are the photocopiers that cost between $20,000 to $50,000 a machine.

The Xerox and Cannon high resolution colour photocopiers are so good that a chip has been placed inside them to recognise US bills. The chip prevents the machine from printing the bills.

However, the machine will print Bermuda notes.

"It's unbelievable,'' a friend of mine who knows such things said.

"You print a Bermuda $50 note with paper that's thin and crisp and at 12 o'clock at night at Oasis you won't be able to tell the difference.'' The machines recognise US bills because of the way the serial numbers and other key signifiers are placed.

The Bermuda bills have the numbers in a different place, so the chip doesn't recognise the note as money.

While the metal strips and marking won't shine in the light, the photocopy still looks realistic enough to the untrained eye.

"Bermuda has to change the location of the serial number on its $50 bills,'' my friend advises.

There are other safeguards that however make it difficult for a would-be counterfeiter to go out and print up the bills.

First the high resolution machines must be registered with the Police and the Bermuda Monetary Authority, along with the name of the companies to which they have been sold.

The new machines also print microscopic serial numbers on every photocopy they makes so any bill printing will be traceable to a particular machine.

It's not only bills authorities are worried about.

It's also shares, bonds, and other types of transferable securities that can be counterfeited to fool people. BMA general manager Malcolm Williams said he was not worried because Bermuda's small size made it easy to trace any counterfeit bills.

Bermuda's currency was also not convertible internationally, so the would-be counterfeiter could not export the fake bills.

"I'm satisfied that the restricted uses of these machines virtually eradicates the possibility of misuse,'' he said.

There haven't been attempts to counterfeit Bermuda's bills so far except for one "amateur, artistic attempt'', he said. He said the BMA was aware of the capabilities of photocopiers and the fact they'll only improve more in the future. "We always look to see if there is a need for additional security features in Bermuda notes,'' he said.

Internet telephone update: The US Federal Communications Commission has delayed a decision on whether to classify Internet telephone as local or international calls. A decision isn't expected for two weeks. Currently Internet telephone calls are usually treated as local and so don't pay interconnect fees the carriers pay each other for passing calls along. By avoiding the fees and using a more efficient method of packaging voice and data, Internet calls are cheaper.

The issue has led to some acrimonious debate among the telephone companies as they see their market, and a source of revenue, being eroded by the Internet.

The debate about Internet telephone calls came to the fore in Bermuda a couple months ago when Logic Communications began testing a system on the Island.

Cable & Wireless complained and the Telecommunications Commission stepped in with a statement saying in essence that Logic wasn't licensed to provide long distance voice services.

IBM has developed "Pacific Blue'', currently the world's fastest supercomputer. The computer runs 15,000 times faster and has 80,000 times more memory than the average desktop computer. The computer, which does 3.9 trillion operations a second, is being used to maintain reliability of the US's nuclear weapons without the country having to actually conduct bomb tests. Now if they could only develop a computer so all the generals and politicians of the world can conduct wars without actually having to go to battle.

Sometimes the Internet can be too fast. Two mistakes serve as cautionary tales. Last Thursday an intrepid market analyst found that the US Bureau of Labour Statistics had posted the number of jobs created last month on its web site -- a day before scheduled release.

ABC News made another mistake when it posted live fake results for Tuesday's Congressional elections. The company was testing its web site to ensure it would be able to post the news when it actually occurred. The company had to make the statement the fake results in no way indicated a bias or prediction by the news organisation. The Royal Gazette has been more careful I note. A mock up of election results to be printed in the newspaper tomorrow contains only "X'' beside the names for votes garnered.