scorpion 0 Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) What do you guys think? Did you know about this? Sorry, I can only give links that are in the public domain. ____________________________________________________________ http://news.aol.com/story/_a/secret-printer-dots-raise-privacy/20080714095809990001 Secret Printer Dots Raise Privacy Concerns By Thomas Frank, USA Today Posted: 2008-07-14 09:59:16 (July 14) - The affordability and growing popularity of color laser printers is raising concerns among civil liberties advocates that your privacy may not be worth the paper you're printing on. More manufacturers are outfitting greater numbers of laser printers with technology that leaves microscopic yellow dots on each printed page to identify the printer's serial number - and ultimately, you, says the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the leading watchdogs of electronic privacy. The technology has been around for years, but the declining price of laser printers and the increasing number of models with this feature is causing renewed concerns. The dots, invisible to the naked eye, can be seen using a blue LED light and are used by authorities such as the Secret Service to investigate counterfeit bills made with laser printers, says Lorelei Pagano, director of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group. Privacy advocates worry that the little-known technology could ensnare political dissidents, whistle-blowers or anyone who prints materials that authorities want to track. "There's nothing about this technology that limits its application to counterfeit investigations," says Seth Schoen, a computer programmer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Some people who aren't doing anything wrong may have their privacy threatened." Schoen's tests have found the dots produced by 111 color laser printers made by 13 companies including Xerox, Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Brother. The dots are produced only on laser devices and not ink-jet printers, which are most commonly used at home. But laser printers, which produce more durable images, are becoming increasingly popular as their price has dropped to as low as $300, says Angele Boyd, a vice president of IDC Research. Although laser printers made up only 4% of the 33 million printers sold last year in the USA, their sales have been growing by double digits since 2004, Boyd says. The technology began as laser printers were first produced in the mid-1980s and governments and banks feared an explosion of counterfeiting, Xerox spokesman Bill McKee says. "In many cases, it is a requirement to do business internationally that the printers are equipped with this technology," McKee says. The dots tell authorities the serial number of a printer that made a document. In some cases, it also tells the time and date it was printed, Pagano says. "The Secret Service is the only U.S. body that has the ability to decode the information," she says. Printer makers "cooperate with law enforcement" and will tell authorities where a printer was made and sold, McKee says. The Secret Service uses the dots only to investigate counterfeiting, agency spokesman Ed Donovan says. Edited July 15, 2008 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) http://www.eff.org/wp/investigating-machine-identification-code-technology-color-laser-printers Edited July 15, 2008 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted July 15, 2008 List of printers http://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots _____________________________________________________________ Model / test / comments (Scorpion's note: EFF stands for Electronic Frontier Foundation ) Table of printersManufacturer Model Dots? Comments Brother HL-2700CN / yes / volunteer test HL-4200CN / yes /EFF test Canon CLC 1000 yes EFF test CLC 2400 yes EFF test CLC 3002 yes EFF test CLC 4000 yes EFF test CLC 5000+ yes EFF test CLC-iR 3200-C1 yes EFF test Color imageRUNNER C2570 yes EFF test Color imageRUNNER C3100CN yes EFF test Color imageRUNNER C3200 yes EFF test Color imageRUNNER C3200N yes EFF test Color imageRUNNER C3220 yes EFF test Color Laser Copier 1150 yes EFF test Imageclass MF8170C yes EFF test LBP 2410 unclear faint dots; could be artifacts Dell 3000CN yes EFF test 3100CN yes EFF test 5100CN yes EFF test Epson AcuLaser C900 yes EFF test AcuLaser C1100 yes EFF test AcuLaser C1500 yes EFF test AcuLaser C1900 yes EFF test AcuLaser C3000 yes EFF test AcuLaser C4000 yes EFF test Fuji: see Xerox Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJET 1550L yes EFF test Color LaserJET 1600 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2250LN no (??) EFF test Color LaserJET 2500 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2500L yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2500N yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2550 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2550L yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2550N yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2600N yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2680 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 2700N yes volunteer test Color LaserJET 2840 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 3500 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 3550 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 3600DN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 3700 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 3700DN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 3700N yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4500 no EFF test Color LaserJET 4500DN no EFF test Color LaserJET 4500N no EFF test Color LaserJET 4550 no EFF test Color LaserJET 4550N no EFF test Color LaserJET 4600 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4600DN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4600HDN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4600N yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4650 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4650DN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4650DTN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 4700 yes volunteer test Color LaserJET 4700DN yes volunteer test Color LaserJET 4700DTN yes volunteer test Color LaserJET 5M no EFF test Color LaserJET 5100CN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5500 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5500ATN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5500DN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5500HDN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5550 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5550DN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 5550DTN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 8500 no EFF test Color LaserJET 8500DN no EFF test Color LaserJET 8550 no EFF test Color LaserJET 8550DN no EFF test Color LaserJET 8550GN no EFF test Color LaserJET 9500 yes EFF test Color LaserJET 9500HDN yes EFF test Color LaserJET 9500MFP yes EFF test IBM Infoprint Color 1454 unclear dithering? Infoprint Color 1464 PS3 yes dithering? Konica (Konica/Minolta) Bizhub C252 yes EFF test Bizhub C350 yes EFF test Colorforce 1501 yes EFF test Colorforce 8050 yes EFF test DialtaColor CF 2001 unclear dithering? DialtaColor CF 2002 unclear dithering? Ikon CPP500E yes EFF test Magicolor 2 Desklaser no EFF test Magicolor 2200 DL yes EFF test Magicolor 2210 yes EFF test Magicolor 2300 DL yes EFF test Magicolor 2300 W yes EFF test Magicolor 2350 yes EFF test Magicolor 2350 EN yes EFF test Magicolor 2400 W yes EFF test Magicolor 2430 DL yes EFF test Magicolor 2450 yes EFF test Magicolor 3100 yes EFF test Magicolor 3300 yes EFF test Magicolor 5450 yes EFF test Magicolor 7300 yes EFF test Kyocera C2630D yes EFF test FS-C5016N yes EFF test FS-C5020N yes EFF test FS-C5030N yes EFF test FS-C8008 yes EFF test Mita KM-C2230 yes EFF test Lanier LD238C yes EFF test LP125CX/LP126CN yes EFF test Lexmark C510 yes EFF test C720 unclear retest C752 yes EFF test C752N yes EFF test C760 yes EFF test C910 yes EFF test C912 yes EFF test Minolta: see Konica NRG DSc38 yes EFF test OkiDATA (Oki) C5100 no EFF test C5150 no EFF test C5150N no EFF test C5200 no EFF test C5300 no EFF test C7200 no EFF test C7350 no EFF test C7400 no EFF test C7400N no EFF test C9200 no EFF test C9300 no EFF test C9400 no EFF test MIP C5540 no EFF test OkiLAN 8100E no EFF test Panasonic Workio KXCL-500 yes EFF test Ricoh (see also Savin) Aficio 1224C yes EFF test Aficio 1232C yes EFF test Aficio CL 2000 yes press report Aficio CL 3000 yes EFF test Aficio CL 3000E yes EFF test Aficio CL 6010 yes EFF test Aficio CL 7000 yes EFF test AP 206 yes EFF test Infotec/Danka ISC 2838 yes EFF test Samsung CLP-500 no EFF test CLP-510 no EFF test CLP-550 no EFF test CLP-550N no EFF test Savin C3210 yes EFF test CLP35 yes EFF test Tektronix: see Xerox Toshiba eStudio 210c yes mfr. statement eStudio 211c yes mfr. statement eStudio 310c yes mfr. statement eStudio 311c yes mfr. statement eStudio 2100c yes mfr. statement eStudio 3100c yes mfr. statement eStudio 3511 yes EFF test FC15 yes mfr. statement FC15i yes mfr. statement FC22 yes mfr. statement FC22i yes mfr. statement FC25P yes mfr. statement FC25Pi yes mfr. statement FC70 yes mfr. statement Xerox (Tektronix) DocuColor 12 yes EFF test DocuColor 40 yes EFF test DocuColor 1521 yes EFF test DocuColor 1632 yes EFF test DocuColor 2000 yes mfr. statement DocuColor 2045 yes EFF test DocuColor 2240 yes EFF test DocuColor 3535 yes EFF test DocuColor 5252 yes EFF test/mfr. statement DocuColor 6060 yes EFF test/mfr. statement Phaser 560 no EFF test Phaser 740 no EFF test Phaser 750 (Z750V) no EFF test Phaser 750P no EFF test Phaser 790 yes EFF test Phaser 850DP no EFF test Phaser 860DP no EFF test Phaser 1235 no EFF test Phaser 6100 no EFF test Phaser 6200 no EFF test Phaser 6200DP no EFF test Phaser 6250DP no EFF test Phaser 6350DP no EFF test Phaser 7300DN no EFF test Phaser 7300DT no EFF test Phaser 7700 no EFF test Phaser 7750DN no EFF test Phaser 8200DP no EFF test Phaser 8200DX no EFF test Phaser 8400 no dithering? Phaser 8400B unclear dithering? Phaser 8400DP unclear dithering? Phaser 8400DX unclear dithering? Phaser 8400N unclear dithering? Phaser 8440DP unclear dithering? Phaser 8550 no EFF test Phaser 8550DP no EFF test Phaser 8560MFP/D no EFF test WorkCentre M24 yes EFF test WorkCentre Pro (all models) yes mfr. statement Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C7 in CA 0 Posted July 16, 2008 THATS! why all my yellow toner is getting used up all the time! I thought I was going crazy... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted July 16, 2008 This has been around for fairly long time now... The first discussions on this technology actually surfaced at least 12 years ago. This is not a recent news, just people are getting surprised that every time you print, you leave behind wealth of information on the paper... The only thing that can not be identified that who the user is, unless the user makes it obvious with their personal information on the front of the page... Printer manufacturers have been trying this technology even with Dot Matrix era and were fairly successful... With Laser technology, well they made things even easier... The question is not why such technology exists - rather, who actually cares to identify them and what are their intentions? At least my two cents of the day... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UMDRanger 0 Posted July 16, 2008 OMFG Big Brother is going to know you wrote that letter to your mother by comparing the yellow dots! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RickA 0 Posted July 16, 2008 Hey Scorp, don't spend those bills in Kentucky, they will trace them back to Florida and you! Oooops was not supposed to broadcst that info was I Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted July 17, 2008 Oh Oh! Too late!! I washed 5 dollar bills before I printed the 100s so that it passes the pen test!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted July 17, 2008 This has been around for fairly long time now... The first discussions on this technology actually surfaced at least 12 years ago. I wonder if they are still keeping all of the typesets, and typewriter balls of all of those old typewriters of years gone by?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted July 17, 2008 You know it... nothing gets trashed and still will be avail in a future... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
