Is your printer tracking you? at DVinfo.net

Justin Kohli · October 19th, 2005, 06:05 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...101801663.html

It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government.

Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals....

Chris Hurd · October 19th, 2005, 06:20 PM

Saw this on the news tonight. All printer manufacturers implement this currently, and it's intended to curtail counterfeit money printing.

Mark Utley · October 19th, 2005, 10:02 PM

That's incredible! I wonder when this started.

Keith Loh · October 19th, 2005, 11:04 PM

This was rumoured for almost a year but now I guess it is confirmed.

Alan Porter · October 19th, 2005, 11:16 PM

Does this mean I should pull the dot matrix that came w/my Atari 800 out of the attic?

Justin Kohli · October 20th, 2005, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Porter

Does this mean I should pull the dot matrix that came w/my Atari 800 out of the attic?

"Wait 10 minutes while I print page 1 of our quarterly earnings"

--RRNNGGHH RRNNNGHH RNNNGHH RNNHGHH---

Ahhh how fond of the dot matrix. Not.

Greg Boston · October 20th, 2005, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Kohli

"Wait 10 minutes while I print page 1 of our quarterly earnings"

--RRNNGGHH RRNNNGHH RNNNGHH RNNHGHH---

Ahhh how fond of the dot matrix. Not.

Justin,

You must not have ever had the pleasure of using some of the faster Okidata printers. Those things screamed and would have produced your page 1 in very short order, albeit with lesser quality than the modern inkjet. The real slow pokes were the 'daisy wheel' printers that produced fully formed characters like a typewriter but were soooo noisy, most people had them in sound deadening enclosures.

-gb-

Anhar Miah · October 20th, 2005, 12:59 PM

There was a whole thing about using any encryption software from US, apparently they (US software companies) had left "Backdoors" that was accessible for law enforcement agencies.

Moral of the story, program your own encryption software, it can be fun!

My close friend programmed his for his last year thesis, it had three layers (after deciding 7 layers would be a little over the top) including bogus data. Nobody ever cracked it (not even the professor) :)

Well, law agencies are becoming more intrusive that’s for sure, just picture the following in Court:-

Defendant " You can't prove, I didn't do F*$%^ [CENSORED]"

Prosecutor "I shall now produce exhibit B, namely "Toilet Cam"
:)

Anhar

Nick Vaughan · October 20th, 2005, 02:29 PM

Actually, I read on the internet yesterday that the technology is only on color laser printers. No worries if you use an inkjet, I guess. I'm looking down at my Epson right now...I hope I'm not wasting my yellow ink cartridge on that crap.

October 19th, 2005, 06:05 PM	#1
Justin Kohli Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Appleton, WI, USA Posts: 77	Is your printer tracking you? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...101801663.html It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government. Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals.... __________________ Album Journal: http://carbonflaw.blogspot.com DV Blog: http://24-fps.blogspot.com Music & Media Label: phait-accompli.com Thoughts & Philosophies: http://jkohli.blogspot.com "The most important thing is to enjoy life, to be happy, that's all that matters." --Audrey Hepburn

October 19th, 2005, 06:20 PM	#2
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Saw this on the news tonight. All printer manufacturers implement this currently, and it's intended to curtail counterfeit money printing. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

October 19th, 2005, 10:02 PM	#3
Mark Utley Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 479	That's incredible! I wonder when this started. __________________ Mark Utley

October 19th, 2005, 11:04 PM	#4
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	This was rumoured for almost a year but now I guess it is confirmed. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

October 20th, 2005, 12:59 PM	#8
Anhar Miah Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: United Kindom, England Posts: 290	There was a whole thing about using any encryption software from US, apparently they (US software companies) had left "Backdoors" that was accessible for law enforcement agencies. Moral of the story, program your own encryption software, it can be fun! My close friend programmed his for his last year thesis, it had three layers (after deciding 7 layers would be a little over the top) including bogus data. Nobody ever cracked it (not even the professor) :) Well, law agencies are becoming more intrusive that’s for sure, just picture the following in Court:- Defendant " You can't prove, I didn't do F*$%^ [CENSORED]" Prosecutor "I shall now produce exhibit B, namely "Toilet Cam" :) Anhar __________________ The IT Ninja Learn, Teach, Grow..

October 19th, 2005, 11:16 PM	#5
Alan Porter New Boot Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 17	Does this mean I should pull the dot matrix that came w/my Atari 800 out of the attic?

October 20th, 2005, 02:29 PM	#9
Nick Vaughan Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 141	Actually, I read on the internet yesterday that the technology is only on color laser printers. No worries if you use an inkjet, I guess. I'm looking down at my Epson right now...I hope I'm not wasting my yellow ink cartridge on that crap.