Bob Maxey <written_by@xxxxxxx> writes: > >>>Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You > > Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print > > 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.>>> > ----------------- > I read the article. I read it again. My problem with the piece and your post is this: The headline says these nefarious tiny dots can show where and when you made the print. That would require a GPS system or some sort of radio magic satellite uplink, would it not? The title of the piece is misleading. The dots might show a date or a printer serial number and model, but probably not the location of the printer. And I might ask how will the governmentâ??s knowledge of that info impact decent folks like Bob and you and the rest of the list? > > To put it in laymanâ??s terms, So Freaking What? They can trace the printer serial number through the distribution chain to the final sale, most likely. This is what is done when a gun is recovered from a crime scene, for example. Certainly they can if the printer is in a big print shop (Kinko's or whatever). So saying they can trace it to where you printed it isn't entirely wrong, though it can be read rather misleadingly. As to "so freaking what", most of the time it's pretty irrelevant; but if I want to write an anonymous whistle-blower letter to my senator or the GAO or somebody about malfeasance in the government department I work in, it suddenly becomes pretty darned important! And given the abuses the government routinely commits with the police powers it has now, I'm very much opposed to giving them more. -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b@xxxxxxxx>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>
