Your color laser printer is a snitch

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:01 pm

http://www.techtree.com/techtr...d=582Quote Â»The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a consumer privacy and digital rights organization, has analyzed codes embedded in printouts in color laser printers. The code cracked by the EFF was an invisible bar code that contained the serial number of the printer for tracking users as well as the date and time a page was printed.In Xerox printers the code appears in a pattern of yellow dots visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light. The codes are supposed to be for government agencies looking out for counterfeit currency printers.The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages printed from virtually every major printer manufacturer though it has so far managed to crack the codes for only one Xerox model.Seth David Schoen, staff technologist, EFF, said that the dots are yellow, less than one millimeter in diameter, and are typically repeated over each page of a document. The pattern is visible under blue light with the help of a magnifying glass or a microscope.A complete list of the printers that have the yellow dots is given here. http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php. Though some printers do not produce the yellow dots, some of them leave other watermarks and may have other ways of identifying them.

gargoyle · Post by **gargoyle** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:11 pm

can I borrow your printer... I gotta write my Manifesto.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:13 pm

Eeeek! That's scary. I think that is an interesting project for me some night. Note to self: you really should think next time what you use to send those letters out with.

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:44 pm

i think csi solved a crime with this information.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:33 pm

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic Â»Eeeek! That's scary. I think that is an interesting project for me some night. Note to self: you really should think next time what you use to send those letters out with. Don't you watch TV? You should use cut outs from newspapers and magazines!

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:53 pm

Quote, originally posted by Sputnik Â»Don't you watch TV?Actually, no I don't! Going on one year without as I type this. But I did remember the cutting out letters part. Too bad I goofed yet again and cut the letters out from the Vibe owner's manual I printed on the color printer. Thanks for the tip, I'm off to the store for a tabloid or two.

redlava · Post by **redlava** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:40 am

Yeah, my printer isn't on there.Alright who here wants a brand new $20 bill!!!!!

GMJAP · Post by **GMJAP** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:15 am

I wonder if hte barcode would photocopy? with a B&W copier I'm sure it wouldn't. wonder if it would with a color copier?

zionzr2 · Post by **zionzr2** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:32 am

oh good i can still print B&W moneyI'm not on the list......everyone go outside and wave to big brother!!!

silver_vibe · Post by **silver_vibe** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:25 am

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 Â»...everyone go outside and wave to big brother!!!I apologize in advance for going off topic...Over the years, everyone has been so afraid of "big brother" (i.e. government) watching, no one really noticed when private citizens started watching and recording each other around every corner...now you have no idea who/when/where you're being watched. I used to think the government shouldn't have cameras, but now that everyone else does, I think law enforcement should set 'em in public places. At least then I'd know that I am being watched along with everyone else.

GMJAP · Post by **GMJAP** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:13 pm

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 Â»oh good i can still print B&W moneyActually, my brother knew of a guy in college that did that. This guy knew how to adjust out the slight distortion that's put in copiers to prevent just that. Fed copied $1 in vending machines all over the place.'Course, he wasn't bright enough to get away with it. The feds found the copies in machines in a rough circle throughout the city with the campus in the center. The highest concentration was in the dorm vending machines, and they found stacks of copies above the ceiling tiles in his room. Secret Service came for him....

binary · Post by **binary** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:31 pm

Along the same argument as GMJAP, It doesn't matter - the counterfit technologies are only as good as the people accepting it the money...http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a....htmlor http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a....html

mcgusto82 · Post by **mcgusto82** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:54 pm

no wonder i thought my printer was wispering a few days ago. that son of a...!

binary · Post by **binary** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:15 am

Quote, originally posted by mcgusto82 Â»no wonder i thought my printer was wispering a few days ago. that son of a...!Time to "office space" that sucka....

Your color laser printer is a snitch

Your color laser printer is a snitch

Re: Your color laser printer is a snitch (joatmon)

Re: Your color laser printer is a snitch (joatmon)

Re: Your color laser printer is a snitch (ColonelPanic)

Re: Your color laser printer is a snitch (Sputnik)

Re: Your color laser printer is a snitch (ColonelPanic)

Re: Your color laser printer is a snitch (joatmon)

Re: (zionzr2)

Re: (zionzr2)

Re: (binary)

Re: (mcgusto82)