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WHAT IS DataDotDNA?
DataDotDNA, or microdot, is text shrunk to prevent viewing by unintended recipients. Microdots are typically circular and less than one millimetre in diameter. The name comes from the fact that the microdots are about size and shape of a typographical dot, such as a ‘full-stop’. It is a technique of steganography.
View/Download DataDot Material Safety Data Sheets [MSDS]
Microdot History
In 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War when Paris was under siege, messages were sent by carrier pigeon. A Parisian photographer named Dagron used a microfilm technique to enable each pigeon to carry a high volume of messages.
However, those images were not as small as microdots.
Microdots were first ‘invented’ by Professor Emmanuel Goldberg in the 1920’s using a process called “extreme reductionmicrophotography”.
During the Second World War, Germany used microdot technology to develop covert communications for espionage purposes. Former FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, referred to microdots as being ‘the masterpiece of espionage’ and are thought to be used to pass information to the Japanese military prior to the December, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbour.
During the Cold War, it was well known that the Russian KGB also used microdots for espionage purposes by using a more refined microdot camera.
More recently, microdots have been used by various law enforcement agencies for sting operations and by certain high profile vehicle manufacturers to curb professional auto theft.
Advances in microdot technology over the years has resulted in DataDot Technology Ltd developing new imaging processes and the highly innovative Patented spray application method that also includes a robotic applicator that can apply thousands of microscopic DataDotDNA to a vehicle in forty seconds.
How Does DataDotDNA work?
DataDot DNA Technology comprises of a polyester substrate laser etched with the unique PIN or custom identifier and is incorporated into a special adhesive with a UV trace that glows under a Black UV light.
Thousands of DataDot DNA can be applied to property by using the patented spray application method or simply brushed on.
DataDot DNA are virtually undetectable microdots either 0.5mm or 1.0mm in diameter, each laser encrypted with its unique DNA code. The coding is complex and makes it near impossible to reproduce and the technology is extremely difficult to ‘mask’ or reproduce.
The etched information on the DataDot is easily read using a simple 50x handheld or USB powered microscope.