Laser Printers and Privacy Concerns

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FitzLT
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Joined: 12/31/2011

Several US manufacturers of laser printers encode all printed documents with a series of yellow dots that, as far as is known, keeps track of when and by what machine the document is printed. Here are some links:

http://l.bukys.org/2004/11/23/color-laser-printers-embed-serial-numbers-in-printed-documents/
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/restricted-printers
http://www.ktla.com/news/local/viewerinfo/stv-cyberguy-dots-52010,0,3093147.story
https://www.eff.org/issues/printers
https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots

Now, my question is, does anyone know if this ONLY concerns laser printers?

akirashinigami

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I am a translator!

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Joined: 02/25/2010

According to http://seeingyellow.com/call.php, it's only color laser printers.

FitzLT
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Joined: 12/31/2011

Awesome, thank you!

I apologize about that...somehow I had managed to miss that part!

Chris

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Joined: 04/23/2011

The EFF is the originator of this investigation. It is quite old.

Here is what they say regarding the list of printers they have which do or don't include the tracking dots:

A "no" simply means that we couldn't see yellow dots; it does not prove that there is no forensic watermarking present. (For example, the HP Color LaserJET 8500 series does not include any yellow tracking dots that we can see, but it may still include some kind of forensic marking, since the majority of other Color LaserJET models do. Other forensic marking techniques have been invented, and we do not yet know how to determine whether these techniques are used by a particular printer.)

What is interesting is that even if you only use a printer for a given task these dots can be used to identify the buyer. You don't have to leave behind a calling card either. At least some manufacturers/distributors/and stores log the serial numbers for products they sell. Either they have your address or they can pick it out of security video footage using the license plate.

Organising any kind of serious protest that the government ultimately doesn't have control over is threatened. Especially when policing and national security organisations are willing to resort to threats of life and limb. Many laws are broadly written and any citizen can be charged despite there never having been (supposedly) any intention of a law being used for a particular purpose. Maybe it is a computer crimes law (violation of a terms of service agreement on a web page) or maybe it is anti-terrorism law.