Yellow Dots of Mystery: Is Your Printer Spying on You?


	Yellow Dots of Mystery: Is Your Printer Spying on You?

Djiezes

11-5-2008 6:49 AM

687 views

tags:

eff, privacy, law, printer, dots, anonimity, big brother, technology, politics, code

5 Comments |

Add a Comment

11-5-2008 9:21 AM

bignosemousie

I need to use a different printer when I create my manifesto. Thanks for the tip!

11-6-2008 12:29 PM

cjartists

Lesson learned: Print all your communciations with al Qaeda from the cyber cafe around the corner, or the public library.

11-6-2008 10:28 PM

joturtle

Djiedes as always you are on the case ! My personal paranoia abounds, but I thank you for your informative contributions.

11-7-2008 1:09 AM

papaziar

Cover your printer with aluminum foil!

11-7-2008 8:40 AM

bignosemousie

LOL, good one papaziar.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/d964e23a-1696-4e4d-81e4-10c365370293/EBB6C268-25CD-43D9-B379-ED38A45BE23B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/" href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.instructables.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/"><H1>Yellow Dots of Mystery: Is Your Printer Spying on You?</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.instructables.com/img/69A27D16-7CC2-4DCB-8876-ECDF3615C5B6" alt="yellow-dots-on-paper.jpg" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/"><DIV>
Imagine that every time you print a document, it automatically includes a <STRONG>secret code that could be used to identify the printer</STRONG> -- and, potentially, the person who used it.  Sounds like something from a spy movie, right?</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/"><DIV><STRONG>Unfortunately, the scenario isn't fictional.</STRONG>  Most color laser printers and color copiers are designed to print invisible tracking codes across every single printed page of their output.  These codes reveal which machine produced a document and, in some cases, when the document was printed or copied.</DIV>
<BR /><DIV>
In this instructable, we'll describe <STRONG>three different ways to see the tracking dots your printer produces:</STRONG> with a blue light, with a microscope, or with a scanner.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/"><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/izMGMsIZK4U&hl=en&fs=1&ap=%26fmt=18&autoplay=1" height="329" width="400" wmode="opaque" quality="high" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.instructables.com/id/Yellow_Dots_of_Mystery_Is_Your_Printer_Spying_on_/"><DIV>
For further information, or to share your findings, please visit us at <STRONG> <A href="http://www.eff.org/issues/printers">http://www.eff.org/issues/printers.</A> </STRONG></DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/EBB6C268-25CD-43D9-B379-ED38A45BE23B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>