[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ecret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

Monday, October 17 2005 @ 07:36 AM CDT
Contributed by: Tommy

San Francisco – A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

"We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of the printer," said EFF Staff Technologist Seth David Schoen.

http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.p ... 7073642369

[lotrfan55345]

This was on the Discovery Channel a very long time ago.

[k_semler]

Ahh, the wonders of Xerox and public terminals. Just set it to a 5% blur, and any microscopic tracking peices should be rendered unusable, but still allow for readablity of the document that you are printing. Also, now I'm glad I don't print that much. Unfortunatly, the last item I printed was over 700 pages of contraversial if not incriminating, (just by having it and access to scrap metal), text.

[OilsNotWell]

I had heard about this earlier too, but what was interesting is that they decoded the encoding...

[rogerhb]

I'm continually amazed at the trades description act, how do we know so much about the US "Secret Service", I remember recently one journalist describing heavies with the words on the backs of their jackets.

[k_semler]

Well, I don't think that the initials of the Secret Service is S.S. by just pure coincidence. SEIG HEIL DUR FURHER!