Laser Printer Technology Used by Government to Track You

[tk2kewl]

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.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1093&e=4&u=/pcworld/20041122/tc_pcworld/118664

[UNIXcock]

1. spooky

... jus dayum

[deadmessengers]

2. Wow

If that didn't come from PC World (a source I trust) I would have dismissed that as tinfoil-hattery. I have a blue LED flashlight and have access to a color laser printer - I'll have to try that tomorrow.

[Gman]

3. They used to could trace a typewriter

(analog word processor) back to the machine because of unique flaws in the type.

[tk2kewl]

5. yes but there they had to find the actual machine

here the just query a database to find it

[KurtNYC]

4. This relies on counterfeiters to register their gear

for the warranty.

[tk2kewl]

7. not exactly

could ask the manufacturer to trace the shipment and then find the store from which it was sold and narrow down the number of suspects (if it was bought by credit card)

[KurtNYC]

10. One would think that real counterfeiters would

pay in cash ;-)

[tk2kewl]

11. presuming the FBI is only looking for counterfeiters

and wouldn't use to track someone down for political purposes under the direction of a corrupt administration

[MadHound]

6. This has been around for ten years now, if not more

It originally started with color copiers back in the late eighties, early ninties. Treasury Dept and the SS were afraid that people would simply start copying money, etc. So they programmed each and every color copier to print out a unique, small ID code on every copy. As color printers got better, they switched the technology to them. I believe that it is now in every printer, laser or inkjet. It is a bit of hardwired code, but it can be disabled if you know what you're doing. Sad to say, I have no clue, but there are some printer techs and copier techs who can point the way.

[Lone Pawn]

8. Next time...

You look in a mirror, notice little swirls on your fingertips and colored patterns in your eyes. These could be used by the government to track you!

Look, these dots aren't made to track you, and there's no proof the government uses them to track you. It's like bullet forensics: you verify if a bullet was fired from a given gun, assuming you have both the gun and the bullet.

[TheDebbieDee]

9. You're missing the point - it's not meant to track you........

unless you sent an anonymous, threatening note to that hypocritical GOP Senator.

And if you're wondering which hypocritical, GOP Senator, the answer is: All of them.

[OneTwentyoNine]

12. Who the hell can afford a COLOR Laser??

A few business can but for the majority of people the cost is still out of reach. Very,very few homes will have a color laser.

David