Every document you’ve printed over the past 10 years can probably be traced back to you:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/newsblog/archives/web_watching/002638.html
Hyperbole! Yay!
This only covers some manufacturers of some color laser printers.
So don’t worry, that stalker letter you mailed to your “girlfriend in Canada” can only be traced back to you if you printed it on the right printer in the last couple years.
Seriously, who worries about shit like this? What are you printing that might get you worried?
Seriously, who worries about shit like this? What are you printing that might get you worried?
That’s, uh, kind of the whole point of the country.
“If you have nothing to hide, who cares if the police search your house?”
“If you aren’t a criminal, who cares if police pull you over and search your car without cause?”
“If you aren’t a terrorist, who cares if the government monitors what you read?”
Th-th-that ASCii porn wasn’t me…ok.
You’re right. You’ve convinced me that printing out all those Google Maps to my local porn shop was a bad idea. Obviously the government has them all on file now.
:roll:
At most be traced to the printer you used, not necessarily you specifically. And it’s only some color printers.
Not to say that it isn’t “tinfoil hat” territory.
Not sure if it’s tinfoil hat territory or not. It certainly makes me a little uncomfortable that the govt instituted a secret way to help track back documents to their creator. But then I can also see a definite public interest in giving govt the tools to fight against criminals. Specifically, criminals who counterfeit currency and other important documents.
I ran this past my boss’s dad who’s been in the printing business for a looong time. He didn’t even blink and talked about this whole thing like it was common knowledge - which surprised me seeing as how stunned the EFF (and even myself) seemed to be. He explained that as technology improved, exactly as Nick implies, the Secret Service needed some technology to beat counterfeiters. Seems this ain’t nothin’ new, at least to a guy that reads the trade magazines.
I think there is a difference between the ability to do something and actually doing it. Governments can trace calls and tap your phone, but it’s only if they do so without warrant that there is a problem. If government agencies are arbitrarily tracing documents back to people, say to embarrass them over adulterous letters to secret lovers, that would obviously be bad, if they are using the knowledge to trace the location of a printer used to create a letter detailing how the sender was going to detonate nuclear weapons in major cities across America, that would obviously be perfectly acceptable to me.
That’s a dangerous argument, because you are relying on govt good intentions. Relying on govt good intentions is a bad idea. The reason the govt doesn’t abuse telecom wiretaps is because to do so they must submit requests to an outside authority (a judge) who makes sure that the wiretap powers are being used in appropriate and legal ways.
There’s no court oversight for tracing hidden printer codes in documents, so the issue must be considered with the assumption that the govt will eventually abuse the power, even if they haven’t to date.
I’m surprised this took so long to come out here. I’d heard about this long ago with respect to counterfeiting, and imagine other printer brands do similar things.
Doesn’t seem like tinfoil hat paranoia to me, as I can see all sorts of ways this could be abused, and I’d definitely prefer to buy a dot-code less printer. Perhaps it’s not being abused, but I’d rather the option weren’t there.
Plus it’s part of a larger pattern, as there are similar things in other fields. The Clinton administration’s attempts at the Clipper Chip. Windows secretly storing and reparing all the websites you visit. FBI power to bust in and keyboard stroke record your computer without a warrant and without notifying you. Carnivore.
That’s a dangerous argument, because you are relying on govt good intentions. Relying on govt good intentions is a bad idea. The reason the govt doesn’t abuse telecom wiretaps is because to do so they must submit requests to an outside authority (a judge) who makes sure that the wiretap powers are being used in appropriate and legal ways.
There’s no court oversight for tracing hidden printer codes in documents, so the issue must be considered with the assumption that the govt will eventually abuse the power, even if they haven’t to date.[/quote]
Err… where did I say I would happily rely on the government to decide what was appropriate use on the technology?
The only dangerous part of my argument is the part you imagined ;).
Damn now I’m really kicking myself for getting rid of that old and heavy as a truck Okidata dot-matrix printer.
Hmm, perhaps I misunderstood you then. Your statement “I think there is a difference between the ability to do something and actually doing it” seemed to imply to me that you were willing to rely on govt good intentions.
A list by the EFF of which printers do print the dots and ones which they can’t tell.
You also can’t print dollar bills, nor can photoshop work with images it recognizes as dollar bills.
See, that I understand. It makes sense, and there’s a definite reason. But tracking dots… nein.
I am deathly afraid that the federal government will be able to connect my half assed term papers to me, even without the cover sheet.
What are you guys printing that you are afraid of the Federales? Well, besides Ben, I know that he got in trouble for that whole Dance Contest to the Death mailing hid did to the Federal Judiciary.