You've been betrayed by your laser printer!

[CougTek]

This is the kind of news that gives me the temptation to hunt an FBI agent and beat him until his skull opens. Just temptation, I don't plan to waste my time to actually do it.

The code is printed on every color page as a series of minuscule yellow dots, arranged on a widely-spaced rectangular 15 by 8 grid. On a regular piece of white printer paper, the faint yellow dots are almost impossible to see, even under magnification. However, when the page is illuminated by a blue LED flashlight, the dots are more clearly visible.

The top and left rows are used as parity bits, for error correction. The remaining dots in the grid are used to convey information about the document and its source, including printer model, printer configuration, printer serial number, and the date and time the page was printed.

[...]

Xerox is by no means the only printer company to have implemented this scheme. Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, Minolta, Kyocera, Lanier, Lexmark, Savin and Toshiba have all been confirmed to have included such a feature on at least some of their models.

[...]

The ACLU recently issued a report revealing that the FBI has amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on the organization since 2001, as well as documents concerning other non-violent groups, including Greenpeace and United for Peace and Justice. In the current political climate, it's not hard to imagine the government using the ability to determine who may have printed what document for purposes other than identifying counterfeiters.

Clearly, this data isn't used to protect the safety of ordinary citizen but the interest of powerful lobbies backing elected scum bags of the government. Federal agents working on programs like this should be ashamed! This is oppression and an unacceptable attack against freedom. IMO, people need a lot more protection against their own government and folks pretending to defend "their own safety" than they need against potential terrorists. Recent London attacks prove that public authorities couldn't find a real terrorist group even if they ran right under their nose. Probably because federal agents are too busy spying on honest people to protect the interests of powerful corporations.

My middle finger, high and straight, to all the lesser life forms working on spying projects like this one.

News source

 

[Mercutio]

Printers and scanners pretty much all do this sort of thing for anti-counterfeiting measures. I'm not too happy about the idea, but I doubt any company is out there saying "no, we won't help out the FBI/US Treasury Dept./whatever." either.

I guess if you could find on the RGB values of whatever the yellow that's being used is, you could make that the background color for all your prints...

 

[P5-133XL]

The govt and the laser copier/printer firms have been collaborating on this for decades. Those marks have been well known about and used throughout the justice system to prove when and who printed specific documents. By no means has the usage been limited to counterfeiting.

I don't see a problem here. Having a database of documents is the equivalent of having a database of fingerprints or DNA. As long as you don't do anything against the law with your documents then its all moot. The moment that those databases are used for private gain then there's a bigger problem that should be addressed. To my knowledge the confidentiality of these databases have never been compromised on any significant scale.

 

[CougTek]

The moment that those databases are used for private gain then there's a bigger problem that should be addressed.

Why do you think they scrutinize data from Greenpeace if it's not to pass it to oil companies (and other polluting companies)? Who has interest to spy organisms like United for Peace and Justice, other than perhaps guns manufacturers and the like? If this isn't spying for private gain, I don't know what it is.

 

[Mercutio]

It'd be different if there were another option. There isn't. All the printer companies are in on this. Sadly, the world still runs on paper.

 

[P5-133XL]

The moment that those databases are used for private gain then there's a bigger problem that should be addressed.

Why do you think they scrutinize data from Greenpeace if it's not to pass it to oil companies (and other polluting companies)? Who has interest to spy organisms like United for Peace and Justice, other than perhaps guns manufacturers and the like? If this isn't spying for private gain, I don't know what it is.

I have never heard of such a useage from anything even close to a reliable source. If it was occuring then a simple lawsuit would have ensued that would have cleared up any such behavior: The potential harm to the goverments reputation would be far to great for them to do anything other than stop immediately. No one could trust that tax-returns or your social security number or any other data that the governments collects would be secure. There would be massive consequences, heads would roll, if such accusations were proven true.

So, it comes down to: I don't believe you. Your statements are too far-fetched to be believable to anyone other than conspiracy-theorists that are basicly irrational.