Members Brittanylips Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 Yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco consumer privacy group, revealed that it had cracked a code used by Xerox printers that puts invisible dots on all pages it prints. The dots are tiny and yellow, visible only under a magnifying glass and with a blue light. The EFF said if found similar codes on pages printed from every major manufacturer, including HP, although so far it's only cracked the Xerox codes. Yesterday the Secret Service acknowledged the codes - which include serial numbers and dates - which it uses to track down individuals involved in nefarious printing activities (e.g. counterfeiting). The EFF said they found the codes on pages printed as long as 10 years ago. A representative from the EFF said that "someone in the government has managed to have a lot of influence in printing technology." The Washington Post has an article in today's paper about it here but you may have to be registered to access it. The author points out that in the past, repressive regimes have used similar (although less high tech) tracking techniques to pursue the authors of under-ground anti-government literature. -Peace, Love, and Brittanylips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 So so, you recommend that we buy a Xerox printer, and start printing infamous, wicked stuff? Where the best place to send the nefarious prints? 1) Buckingham Palace2) MI53) Scotland Yard4) ? Any idea what the best content would be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bbach Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 Originally posted by Angelo Clematide So so, you recommend that we buy a Xerox printer, and start printing infamous, wicked stuff? Any idea what the best content would be? Angelo, I think anything dealing with Paris Hilton or Tom Cruise would be considered un-American and you might face tough penalties. Maybe $1 fine or two minutes in jail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 So if you print in black and white you're okay, eh? Scary story, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members G Geezer Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 I remember back about 2000, while setting up a Ad Graphics dept, the Canon tech who was setting up our Canon CLC Copier Printer told me about it, and even showed where the "Secret Stuff" was supposed to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 Originally posted by Anderton So if you print in black and white you're okay, eh?Scary story, though. No it's not okay, that's what justice calls Blackmail, or Whitemail when the maledict is a caucasian. Xerox is is Yellomail.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kiwiburger Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 Wow! Eye-opener! So ... now that we know that printers are coded to identify us, what do you think about scanners and digital camera's ... even CD & DVD writers ... video camera's ... Telephones, bank cards and email/internet are very obviously used to track people - now we have to think about anything else digital. You know, 1986 Big Brother wasn't really wrong, was it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kiwiburger Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 So it's back to lino cuts for my subversive printing activities ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 Now all we have to do is have Osama bin Laden start passing out leaflets here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted October 19, 2005 Members Share Posted October 19, 2005 and wait ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 I don't personally care if my printer puts codes on my printed page. What are "they" going to do? Will "they" throw me in jail because some notes in my Finale score have a few notes that look suspiciously similar to some famous person's notes whose copywrites have not yet expired? And even if I for some silly reason decided to use my printer to voice my political objections, would "they" come and get me? I doubt it. My guess is that the secret codes are there to help catch people printing counterfeit money. And if the codes help them find the culprits, I'd say that's great. I am an American, and I believe in liberty, but some of us take our protection of liberty to absurd proportions IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimOBrien Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Nothing new.... I ran a graphics dept about 8 years ago and we got in a Canon color printer/copier to run page proofs. When we had it cut out several time the techs came out and explained it was the Secret Service mandated protections kicking in (we later figured out it was the reflections in the eyes of some peoples photos were similar to the reflections in the eyes of Presidents in currency). He also explained to everyone that every page is encoded so that the Secret Service can trace back to the machine for counterfieting. Cant blame them, it's downright scary how good some of these work.... So just what is it you're doing that's got you scared of page IDs????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hanshananigan Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Convince me that the SS or other intel agency does NOT routinely try to trace letters and other pubs deemed "unAmerican", and I'll certainly feel better. If companies MUST comply with an official govt policy to put a code on printed pages, shouldn't this be a law somewhere (and is it?)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by amplayer I don't personally care if my printer puts codes on my printed page. What are "they" going to do? Will "they" throw me in jail because some notes in my Finale score have a few notes that look suspiciously similar to some famous person's notes whose copywrites have not yet expired? And even if I for some silly reason decided to use my printer to voice my political objections, would "they" come and get me? I doubt it. My guess is that the secret codes are there to help catch people printing counterfeit money. And if the codes help them find the culprits, I'd say that's great. I am an American, and I believe in liberty, but some of us take our protection of liberty to absurd proportions IMHO. Of course they will get you, and if you are lucky, soldier Lynndie English will make some SM with you. If you don't like it, they may let you go without SM. :D :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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