The other day, I received a $20 with a strange message: You Have Found A Wild Bill... Track Me at www.wheresgeorge.com So I Googled "Where's George?" and found this on (of course!) Wikipedia:
Where's George? is a website that tracks the natural geographic circulation of American paper money. Its popularity has led to the establishment of a number of other currency trackingUnited States.[1] websites (of which Where's George? remains the most popular by far), sites that track other objects—such as used books—and it has been used in at least one research paper to provide statistical patterns of human travel in the United States.
The site was established in December 1998 by Hank Eskin, a database consultant in Brookline, Massachusetts.[3][4] Where's George? refers to George Washington, whose portrait appears on the one-dollar bill. In addition to the one-dollar bill, 2-, 5-, 10-, 20-, 50- and 100-dollar denominations can be tracked. The one-dollar bill is by far the most popular denomination, followed by 20-dollar bills.[5]
To track a bill, a user enters the local ZIP Code and the serial number and series of any United States currency denomination. Users outside the United States are also able to participate using an extensive database of unique codes assigned to non-American/Canadian locations. Once a bill is registered, the site reports the time between sightings, the distance traveled between locations, and any comments from the finders (called "user notes"). The site does not track bills older than series 1963.
Where's George? is supported by advertising, sales of memorabilia, and by users who pay a fee for extra features.[3] Users who pay a $7/month fee are entered into the "Friends of Where's George?" program, which allows these users to access the website free of advertisements; access certain features that others cannot, and refresh reports on the user's entered bills.[6] Eskin states that the "Friends of Where's George?" program will always be optional and payment to use the site will always be at the individual's prerogative.[6]
The website does not encourage the defacement of U.S. Currency.[10] In October 1999, Eskin was interviewed for the New York Times, where he commented on why the Secret Service has not bothered the webmaster over the defacement of US Currency. Eskin replied "They've got better things to do. They want to catch counterfeiters counterfeiting billions of dollars."[11]
In April 2000, the site was investigated by the United States Secret Service, which informed Eskin that the selling of "Where's George?" rubber stamps on the web site is considered "advertising" on United States currency, which is illegal under 18 U.S.C. § 475.[12] The website's administrators immediately ceased selling the rubber stamps and no further action against the site was taken.[3] At least one spokesperson for the US Secret Service has pointed out in print that marking US bills, even if not defacement, is still illegal for other reasons[13] under 18 U.S.C. § 475; however, the general view is that using Where's George? rubber stamps on currency is not illegal per se.[14] One Secret Service spokesman in Seattle, Washington, told The Seattle Times in 2004: "Quite frankly, we wouldn't spend too much looking into this."[3]
I think this is all quite fascinating - I love seeing little secret messages in unexpected places - so I took a photo of my "wild bill" so you can be on the look-out for it as it travels onwards and upwards, doing its part to boost the economy!
I'm trying not to spend it - but I plan to report its current location before releasing it back into the wild...
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