The government's consultation called on UK banks to look at copying a system pioneered in 1998 by Servibanca in Colombia, which allows customers to make a donation each time they withdraw cash.
The technology feels like a step backward, from big mechanical machines using nineteenth-century technology to a new system that involves people copying information by hand from one piece of paper to another.
Local fabrication could be a valuable asset in the rejuvenation of local economies but to become a local economic saviour there needs to be a good IP protection system in place that allows copying to flourish without denying creative rights.
When word leaked out about a week ago that Sony was using a copy-protection program to keep people from copying their music CDs, music lovers cried foul and security experts warned the XCP copy protection system could be hijacked by so-called Trojan horse programs.