IBM correcting selectric typewriter: an analysis of the use of the correctable film ribbon in altering typewritten...

From the point of view of a document examiner, the advent of the Correcting Selectric typewriter has not changed any of the procedures ordinarily used in the examination of altered typewritten material. The same precautions should be observed in conducting examinations of such material as would be observed in making examinations for any other type of possible alteration on negotiable instruments. The security question raised with the Correcting Selectric is no different than the questions raised when an eraser was put on a pencil or a chemical bleach was found to remove ink on paper. The Correcting Selectric might even be compared to the introduction of ball-point pens on the market in the late 1940s. At that time, financial publications were suggesting that ball-point pens should not be used on any negotiable or valuable document as the ink was considered to be too readily transferable, and it was thought that they left little in the way of individual writing characteristics. However, it was not long before financial institutions were supplying such pens on their counters. Because of the complexities involved in using the Correcting Selectric to alter a document, it is felt that such problems will prove to be less prevalent than those involving other means of alterations.