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printer tracking dot patterns decoded

Don't panic

Don't panic

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 30, 2004
5,541
697
having a drink at Milliways
Did you know that, every time a page is printed by a laser color printer, a semi-invisible tracking dot pattern is also printed, which allows to identify the serial number of the printer, and the date and time of the print?
(some claims it applies to copiers and cheaper printers too)
Was this common knowledge?

it's supposedly designed to prevent counterfeit, and the FBI is in charge of the decoding/identification of printers.

well, apparently the 'secret code' has just been cracked, at least for some printer models

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051017/full/051017-9.html
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118664,00.asp

Big Brother was an amateur!
<meanwhile waves to the guys with dark glasses reading this>
 
iMeowbot said:
Yep. Well, it was common knowledge among nerds who pay attention to things like that anyway :D
Click to expand...
That would probably make it common nerd lore ...
 
MongoTheGeek said:
Yeah, Smart people xerox their notes at Kinko's

;)
Click to expand...
That is actually dumber to print it at a public place like that.
They would know the date, time, printer the pages were printed at Kinko's...then all they have to do is go and get security tapes of that time and see who was printing it.
 
mac-er said:
That is actually dumber to print it at a public place like that.
They would know the date, time, printer the pages were printed at Kinko's...then all they have to do is go and get security tapes of that time and see who was printing it.
Click to expand...

Except CCTV tapes are usually overwritten with a week or two. So, as long as you plan your crime ahead of time, you should get away with it - particularly if you copied them at a Kinko's in another city.
 
If U.S. government can persuade these companies to build in such functions - who else might be helping them like that?!

I have some faint memory of a story surfacing in medias someyears ago about some somethings in Windows called CIA... or FBI... anybody's knows what I'm talking about and if it's for real?

A
 
Pay cash for your inkjet printer in an out-of-state store, should you decide to pursue 'criminal' activities. ;)

You might also need to be in incognito should the store's surveillance camera catches you with a date stamp of the purchase.
 
mcadam said:
I have some faint memory of a story surfacing in medias someyears ago about some somethings in Windows called CIA... or FBI... anybody's knows what I'm talking about and if it's for real?
Click to expand...
NSAKEY. Opinions differ on why it is there and Microsoft never really explained it.
 
Lacero said:
Pay cash for your inkjet printer in an out-of-state store, should you decide to pursue 'criminal' activities. ;)
Click to expand...

Or just steal it. You are a criminal, after all!

Edit: not you, Lacero -- I meant the hypothetical "you" out there somewhere reading this.
 
The BTK Killer was caught when he brazenly believed he could get away with murder by sending his CD-R to the FBI to prove he killed his victims. Little did he know, his computer serial number and other incriminating data was digitally added to the CD he sent them.
 
Applespider said:
Except CCTV tapes are usually overwritten with a week or two. So, as long as you plan your crime ahead of time, you should get away with it - particularly if you copied them at a Kinko's in another city.
Click to expand...

I've never worked a at a Kinkos, but when I worked at Blockbuster the CC tapes were kept for 3 or 4 months. A week or two seems very short especially sense one of the main reasons to have CC cameras is to help prevent theft. If there is employee theft it could be weeks before a noticeable pattern shows up, and complete store inventories are done every month or two. If you notice a unaccounted for discrepancy between the inventories you get to go back and shuttle thru a lot of CC tapes. Fun.


Lethal
 
LethalWolfe said:
I've never worked a at a Kinkos, but when I worked at Blockbuster the CC tapes were kept for 3 or 4 months. A week or two seems very short especially sense one of the main reasons to have CC cameras is to help prevent theft. If there is employee theft it could be weeks before a noticeable pattern shows up, and complete store inventories are done every month or two. If you notice a unaccounted for discrepancy between the inventories you get to go back and shuttle thru a lot of CC tapes. Fun.


Lethal
Click to expand...

How much shrinkage is ignorable?
 
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