Or just use a Black and White Laser Printer?
Really, anything you print, no matter what it is printed on with enough time an effort could be track back to at least the model and type of printer.
Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
31–40 of 109 posts
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why should they. It's YOUR government. You do it.
What do you mean it's mine? I didn't create, buy, or even sanction it. The only options I have are avoidance and general scorn. Printer manufacturers are the ones voluntarily saying 'yes, master'. I have no control over any aspect of that situation.
The US government is made up of people like you. If you really want to enact change, you can. Government officials don't just become government officials.
> I didn't create, buy, or even sanction it.
But, you choose to live beneath it. If you don't like the rules, you can work to change it. This is a democracy though, so don't think that everyone will blindly agree with you.
This obviously assumes you are an American. If you aren't, then I really don't see the issue.
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well-known indeed (at least, I followed it with keen interest when it came out), but I think it's good that this resurfaces as I really don't think it got enough attention the first time around. Personally I think the most worrying bits of data are first the time stamp, and second the printer serial number. I say serial number is second because in a criminal investigation phorensics can also get a "fingerprint" of th…
> I think it's good that this resurfaces as I really don't think it got enough attention the first time around. No argument there. I just thought I'd share a lot of what's already known so that we don't have to rediscover it.
Absolutely! If you hadn't posted those links, I would have ;-)
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#34Well-known, I'm afraid. You can find more information here: http://www.eff.org/issues/printers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_steganography It's probably related to the counter-measures against printing currency: https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/photoshop-and-curr... There's some interesting information about what causes an image to be detected as currency here: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sjm217/project…
Well-known indeed (at least, I followed it with keen interest when it came out), but I think it's good that this resurfaces as I really don't think it got enough attention the first time around. Personally I think the most worrying bits of data are first the time stamp, and second the printer serial number. I say serial number is second because in a criminal investigation phorensics can also get a "fingerprint" of th…
Why is it a Bad Thing(tm)? Is this more tin-foil-hat stuff...?
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#35Ahem. Most COLOR laser printers have tracking "watermarks". It's because the US Treasury frowns on printing your own replica currency, which would be unastonishingly easy to do with a color scanner and printer.
Isn't that why actual money has all those fancy strips and bumps? Canada just introduced $100 polymer notes this week. It's even partially transparent. Good luck faking that with consumer-grade laser printers. (Color inkjets might work better on transparent sheets.)
Why on earth would anyone bother forging Canadian currency?
Just ribbing on ya :p
It is true, there are other preventative measures, but any one measure can be beaten. It's like computer security- any computer can be hacked, it's just a game of making it hard enough to hack that it is not worth it, or takes too long.
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#36Yeah, I only buy lasers that don't have them, there are lists out there of which ones. The yellow doesn't photocopy well so if you have to use such a printer, you can erase the tracking dots on your anonymously distributed pamphlets by monochrome photocopying at Kinkos the master copy you produced with your home or business laser.
Make sure you destroy the copier too. :)
http://digitaljournal.com/article/291894
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean it's mine? I didn't create, buy, or even sanction it. The only options I have are avoidance and general scorn. Printer manufacturers are the ones voluntarily saying 'yes, master'. I have no control over any aspect of that situation.
The US government is made up of people like you. If you really want to enact change, you can. Government officials don't just become government officials. > I didn't create, buy, or even sanction it. But, you choose to live beneath it. If you don't like the rules, you can work to change it. This is a democracy though, so don't think that everyone will blindly agree with you. This obviously assumes you are an American…
> The US government is made up of people like you
The whole is not merely the sum of the parts. And the people making up the government are nothing like me. For one, they believe government is a means to itself, while I do not.
> If you really want to enact change, you can
Citation needed.
> you choose to live beneath ithh
A one-possibility choice is not a choice. Your unstated assumption is that my personal life should be dependent on the government. I reject this. Also, there are not many places on Earth which aren't controlled by the US govt.
> If you don't like the rules, you can work to change it
And waste my life endlessly fighting others who wish to enforce their differing will on everyone, while we all perpetuate the democracy virus? That's how to become part of the problem!
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#38Do inkjet printed pages produce similar watermarks? Or is it just laser ones?
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Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#39Do inkjet printed pages produce similar watermarks? Or is it just laser ones?
From the EFF pages linked to in this discussion and Brahm's first post, it seems only colour laser printers have the watermark. (Also http://seeingyellow.com/). So black and white laser and inkjet should hopefully be fine.
Re: Most laser printer printed pages have tracking watermark
#40One could mess up "the system" by printing several times on the same sheet of paper (possibly also changing orientation top-down).