AggieDave 6 #1 November 23, 2004 Xerox copies now have microscopic encoding on every single copy made. The government is keeping a list of serial numbers and where they're sold...the next step (tracking it to you) is super easy, even if you don't send in your registration. CLICKY ***Government Uses Color Laser Printer Technology to Track Documents Mon Nov 22, 4:00 AM ET Technology - PC World Jason Tuohey, Medill News Service WASHINGTON--Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printer there that could be used to trace the document back to you. According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters. Peter Crean, a senior research fellow at Xerox, says his company's laser printers, copiers and multifunction workstations, such as its WorkCentre Pro series, put the "serial number of each machine coded in little yellow dots" in every printout. The millimeter-sized dots appear about every inch on a page, nestled within the printed words and margins. "It's a trail back to you, like a license plate," Crean says. The dots' minuscule size, covering less than one-thousandth of the page, along with their color combination of yellow on white, makes them invisible to the naked eye, Crean says. One way to determine if your color laser is applying this tracking process is to shine a blue LED light--say, from a keychain laser flashlight--on your page and use a magnifier. Crime Fighting vs. Privacy Laser-printing technology makes it incredibly easy to counterfeit money and documents, and Crean says the dots, in use in some printers for decades, allow law enforcement to identify and track down counterfeiters. However, they could also be employed to track a document back to any person or business that printed it. Although the technology has existed for a long time, printer companies have not been required to notify customers of the feature. Lorelei Pagano, a counterfeiting specialist with the U.S. Secret Service, stresses that the government uses the embedded serial numbers only when alerted to a forgery. "The only time any information is gained from these documents is purely in [the case of] a criminal act," she says. John Morris, a lawyer for The Center for Democracy and Technology, says, "That type of assurance doesn't really assure me at all, unless there's some type of statute." He adds, "At a bare minimum, there needs to be a notice to consumers." If the practice disturbs you, don't bother trying to disable the encoding mechanism--you'll probably just break your printer. Crean describes the device as a chip located "way in the machine, right near the laser" that embeds the dots when the document "is about 20 billionths of a second" from printing. "Standard mischief won't get you around it," Crean adds. Neither Crean nor Pagano has an estimate of how many laser printers, copiers, and multifunction devices track documents, but they say that the practice is commonplace among major printer companies. "The industry absolutely has been extraordinarily helpful [to law enforcement]," Pagano says. According to Pagano, counterfeiting cases are brought to the Secret Service, which checks the documents, determines the brand and serial number of the printer, and contacts the company. Some, like Xerox, have a customer database, and they share the information with the government. Crean says Xerox and the government have a good relationship. "The U.S. government had been on board all along--they would actually come out to our labs," Crean says. History Unlike ink jet printers, laser printers, fax machines, and copiers fire a laser through a mirror and series of lenses to embed the document or image on a page. Such devices range from a little over $100 to more than $1000, and are designed for both home and office. Crean says Xerox pioneered this technology about 20 years ago, to assuage fears that their color copiers could easily be used to counterfeit bills. "We developed the first (encoding mechanism) in house because several countries had expressed concern about allowing us to sell the printers in their country," Crean says. Since then, he says, many other companies have adopted the practice. The United States is not the only country teaming with private industry to fight counterfeiters. A recent article points to the Dutch government as using similar anticounterfeiting methods, and cites Canon as a company with encoding technology. Canon USA declined to comment.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #2 November 23, 2004 whoa!!! my bullshit meter went off the scale. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyKev 0 #3 November 23, 2004 Wow...that's F'd up... ...of course, in today's climate it's something you just have to put up with. To do otherwise is to be labled a paranoid conspiracy theorist, or someone with something to hide. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BikerBabe 0 #4 November 23, 2004 "Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." - Benjamin Franklin Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GravityGirl 0 #5 November 23, 2004 See. Now would be a good time to start a manufacturing company for printers. Then you can open yourself up to all sorts of crooked customers and get in on the game yourself! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peace and Blue Skies! Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kennedy 0 #6 November 23, 2004 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Letter to Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773.witty subliminal message Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards. 1* Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nanook 1 #7 November 23, 2004 apparently this is a world issue. people in european countries are pissed too. http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.21/printers_____________________________ "The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #8 November 23, 2004 Quote"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." - Benjamin Franklin Yeah . . . but wasn't it Ben Franklin that also invented this process of encoding documents with secret messages only visible with special glasses? Oh, wait . . . that was a movie . . . never mind.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #9 November 23, 2004 So how does this work with a copier that only does black and white copies? Black only toner, and no yellow ink tank. ""serial number of each machine coded in little yellow dots" in every printout." -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paulipod 0 #10 November 23, 2004 Dont suppose they need to do that.... not much of a black and white counterfeit market need I guess.. Not sure why anyone would object to this? You cant see it - its only the serial number of your printer.... People dont object to the serial number on their gun or the fact that ballistics can match the bullet? Same thing for me. Bodyflight Bedford www.bodyflight.co.uk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #11 November 23, 2004 With a good forensic lab you can trace back pen and ink to the person who wrote. Similarly typewriters have been used to convict a criminal through the examination of tiny defects in the typeface. Photocopiers leave tell tail marks on documents - smudges and wheel marks, which can be used to tie paper to copier. The ribbon printer changed nothing – being as it is simply an advancement of the typewriter. Not even the advance that was the bubble jet or ink jet brought solace to the beleaguered criminal. Tiny imperfections in the jet’s nozzle left a traceable splatter effect, unique to each printer. This evidence has been around for decades, even hundreds of years in the case of typewriters and quills - it's certainly nothing new; such evidence would have been perfectly at home in the case files of the indomitable Sherlock Homes for example and has been used in courts across the globe to convict those who threaten our way of life. Up until 10 years ago the only way a criminal could surmount this trail of evidence was to use newspaper clippings and paste to create a rough collage of text. I’m sure you’re all familiar with this madman’s scrawl from films – the threat letter! And then, all of a sudden about 10 years ago the balance shifted for the first time in centuries in favour of criminals. Suddenly they found they had a new medium through which they could pedal their illegality. The laser printer was invented. As these printers have no physical contact with the paper on which they print they leave no unique marks, such as those left by a typewriter. Not so sloppy as a photocopier they spilled no powder through which they could be traced. No imperfections in the nozzle limit your quest for anonymity here! No, the laser printer burned its way into being a criminals dream – traceless correspondence. So now the printer manufactures seek to redress the age-old balance, back to how it has been for centuries? Oh well – I guess I shall be able to tell my grand children about the heady days of the early 2000’s when I could write to my hearts content without the worry that some day, someone could link a document I wrote back to me without simply looking at my signature or the letter heading. What a trauma! Why can’t things simply go back to how they used to be? Oh wait... I forgot - that’s what’s happening! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ERAUSkydiver 0 #12 November 23, 2004 If you dont register the printer, and you paid for it with cash, then I dont see how anything could really be traced back to you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #13 November 23, 2004 You've still got letters clipped from newspaper articles and simple white glue... _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #14 November 23, 2004 QuoteYeah . . . but wasn't it Ben Franklin that also invented this process of encoding documents with secret messages only visible with special glasses? Oh, wait . . . that was a movie . . . never mind. Actually, there was "invisible ink" used in the Revolutionary War, along with codes. I've run across this in several books on the war. A special solution would be used to make the message visible again after delivery of the message to the recipient. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,106 #15 November 23, 2004 QuoteIf you dont register the printer, and you paid for it with cash, then I dont see how anything could really be traced back to you. Well, even if that is not the case you can: 1) run a few blank sheets through a commercial copying service to get their code imprinted first, and then do your devious printing on those pre-coded blanks, or 2. print a bunch of random yellow dots over the page and embedded code... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnischalke 0 #16 November 23, 2004 or print on yellow paper. Funny, I just pulled a page from our Canon Z800 and sure enough, under a loupe, there's a pattern of teeny yellow dots all over it. I never would have know. When it all comes down to it, what's it matter? The FBI has my fingerprints. The DoD has my DNA. My cell phone is on. I just need to get OnStar in my next vehicle and *they* can track me, frame me, or do whatever else they want to me. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #17 November 24, 2004 QuoteIf you dont register the printer, and you paid for it with cash, then I dont see how anything could really be traced back to you. Still, if you ever did send an illegal letter, and became a suspect, a search warrant would prove that the letter came from your printer. Then you're toast. Better print it down at Kinko's. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #18 November 24, 2004 QuoteBetter print it down at Kinko's. Security video cameras and visual description will nail you down there as well...unless of course you wear something that says "not me" like a ball cap, a trench coat, a fake beard and a pillow under your shirt. No one will notice you dressed like that.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,106 #19 November 24, 2004 QuoteQuoteIf you dont register the printer, and you paid for it with cash, then I dont see how anything could really be traced back to you. Still, if you ever did send an illegal letter, and became a suspect, a search warrant would prove that the letter came from your printer. Then you're toast. Better print it down at Kinko's. Regardless, I don't like doing business with organizations that treat me like I'm a crook. I won't shop in stores that make me check my bag on entering, and I wouldn't buy a product like this unless there were no alternative.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #20 November 24, 2004 QuoteI won't shop in stores that make me check my bag on entering And I don't shop in stores that make me leave my weapon in my truck. Same thing really when you get down to it.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyKev 0 #21 November 24, 2004 Real world example, that I didn't realize the implications of until now. I was accused of sending someone something in the mail. Many of you probably recall what I'm referring to. Well, I didn't send what I was accused of sending but the court case was dropped before I had to prove that, one of the reasons being, that what I was supposed to have sent, was not made available to my atty by the prosecution. In fact, it was lost...hmmm..... I'm wondering now if my atty knew about this and was planning to use it to prove it didn't come from my printer? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #22 November 24, 2004 "I'm wondering now if my atty knew about this and was planning to use it to prove it didn't come from my printer?" That would only prove that it didn't come from your printer. Doesn't mean you didn't print it somewhere else and send it. I can access a gazillion printers straight from my desktop, but then again, I work for Halliburton and would probably be immune from such scrutiny. Either way, glad its all cleared up for you.-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leroydb 0 #23 November 26, 2004 they could trace it to the store. if the store didnt have camera's you would be scott freeLeroy ..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,106 #24 November 26, 2004 Quotethey could trace it to the store. if the store didnt have camera's you would be scott free Perhaps you should wear a Richard Nixon halloween mask when you do the copying in the store.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leroydb 0 #25 November 26, 2004 what about ol ronny?Leroy ..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
