Your Printer Could Be (Helping) Spy On You!

[iamdarkyoshi]

So I just saw this EEVBlog video. This happens with most color laser printers, where they will put faint dots on them, which carry data with the printer's serial number, time, and date. Every document or photo you print from a color laser printer (with this feature) will have these dots. This is nothing new, it has been going on for a long time.


 

Some of the documents that we previously received through FOIA suggested that all major manufacturers of color laser printers entered a secret agreement with governments to ensure that the output of those printers is forensically traceable. Although we still don't know if this is correct, or how subsequent generations of forensic tracking technologies might work, it is probably safest to assume that all modern color laser printers do include some form of tracking information that associates documents with the printer's serial number.

Source: https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots

EEVBlog video:

I did not know about this feature, I think it poses a rather large security risk. I do not like being tracked. What about you? Would you like every document of yours (if printed on a color laser printer) to have the serial number for your printer as well as the exact time printed?

Also this is my first post in the news section, so tell me how I did! I typed this on mobile. Edited December 2, 2015 by iamdarkyoshi

[yannickverc]

I hope my school figures this out. They might see that I printed my essays 15 minutes before they were due......

[Real_PhillBert]

HA! The jokes on them, I don't even own a printer.

 

I hand write all of my ransom notes. 

[Sauron]

I don't see the point, nobody registers who has which printer.

[Raffy98]

I'm not surprised, our privacy is going away and governments are spying on us.

I'm sure they could even tell you how many times you fap in a day ... what a great world isn't it? 

 

P.S. @iamdarkyoshi You did well considering you typed on a mobile device.

[iamdarkyoshi]

I don't see the point, nobody registers who has which printer.

Manufacturer could track where you bought it, the place you bought it might store your information

[Me1z]

I swear I'm trying. I'm trying not to be paranoid but you guys keep bringing this stuff to my attention. Even our own printer is out to get us, nothing is sacred. Not that this will even remotely change my day to day activities, but this is the last thing I needed to have an awareness of. I have to wonder how many conspiracy theorists this forum has created.

[Pesmerga]

This is unacceptable, we're being tracked constantly, I'll ask Siri where I can buy a new printer.

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, it's pretty annoying, is this limited to just color laser printers? Why not inkjets?

[iamdarkyoshi]

This is unacceptable, we're being tracked constantly, I'll ask Siri where I can buy a new printer.

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, it's pretty annoying, is this limited to just color laser printers? Why not inkjets?

Why not inkjets or B/W laser printers? I think it is because color laser printers have gotten so good that they could be used to print fake documents.

[Misanthrope]

Pretty sure only offices and such even use printers anymore, and most places I've worked for do plenty of snooping of their own, only fair they get some of it back.

[CommandMan7]

So this is why I can't print black and white when I'm out of yellow ink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuck you and your shitty printers HP

[Sauron]

Manufacturer could track where you bought it, the place you bought it might store your information

 

I don't usually give my name and fiscal code when I purchase a printer

[dalekphalm]

I don't usually give my name and fiscal code when I purchase a printer

I think the point is more so that during a criminal investigation, it can help narrow down suspects or provide that crucial piece of evidence. If you're under suspicion during an investigation, they'll be able to get a warrant to go into your home and check the SN of your printer to compare against said code.

 

But of course, some people do (although not many) register their printers w/ the manufacturer. And many retailers do take the SN down when selling a printer (usually for warranty/returns/fraud prevention, to ensure if you return a printer, it's the same one that came in the box they sold you), and that can often be linked via the purchase method, since most people will use their bank Debit or Credit cards.

[Altecice]

This is bloody old news. But here is a list of all effected printers - https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots

[Sauron]

I think the point is more so that during a criminal investigation, it can help narrow down suspects or provide that crucial piece of evidence. If you're under suspicion during an investigation, they'll be able to get a warrant to go into your home and check the SN of your printer to compare against said code.

 

That's actually pretty nice

[NumLock21]

This is like really ancient news and does not only apply to color laser printers, even b&w printers have it too.

[TheMcSame]

Lmao... This is hardly an invasion of privacy... This stuff is generally used for investigations into fake money as well as other important things, not for seeing what you ate last night or whatever. It's literally just information about the printer, there's no way of using it to trace it back to your address or anything about you.

 

Some people are just over reacting, this doesn't come close to a 'security risk'.

[iamdarkyoshi]

This is like really ancient news and does not only apply to color laser printers, even b&w printers have it too.

It is old news, however I did not see it anywhere else on the forums. Considering the EEVBlog just uploaded a video about it, I thought I might as well add it.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Lmao... This is hardly an invasion of privacy... This stuff is generally used for investigations into fake money as well as other important things, not for seeing what you ate last night or whatever. It's literally just information about the printer, there's no way of using it to trace it back to your address or anything about you.

 

Some people are just over reacting, this doesn't come close to a 'security risk'.

I still do not like it.

[Pesmerga]

Why not inkjets or B/W laser printers? I think it is because color laser printers have gotten so good that they could be used to print fake documents.

 

Yup but as far as I know inkjets are way more precise and with a higher quality compared to the laser color ones

[Maihym]

That's it I'm leaving America. Haha this shit is just getting out of hand.

[NumLock21]

It is old news, however I did not see it anywhere else on the forums. Considering the EEVBlog just uploaded a video about it, I thought I might as well add it.

That's because people heard it and then forgot about it, so this type of article, is repeated every few years. Heard it a while back, before color laser printers ever existed, and that inkjet don't do this.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Yup but as far as I know inkjets are way more precise and with a higher quality compared to the laser color ones

Not my POS printer... But inkjets are ruined by water, hardly an impressive counterfeit document

[SIGSEGV]

Reminds of the story that turned Richard Stallman against proprietary software, involving the Xerox printer prototype that was brought into the AI lab. He instantly hated it because it had a jamming problem that he wasn't able to fix because they were not given a copy of the source code iirc.

Now we've found out that our printer is out to get us. If our printers didn't have proprietary software we would be free to remove this feature and we would have also known about it far sooner. This stuff has seriously gone too far, what else is out to get us? Laminators? Chargers? Children's toys? WE DON'T FLIPPING KNOW!

They literally said on the page "Other forensic marking techniques have been invented" there's no doubt in my mind that there are far more than those just on the list that are tracking us.

 

That's it I'm leaving America. Haha this shit is just getting out of hand.

You don't get away from it by leaving America, I live in the UK and my printer most likely has this, we get away from it by using libre software.

[TorqueS]

Great...what's next? The little USB Christmas tree decoration that I bought has a Morse code pattern that sends data, or a Wi-Fi transmitter...Ho! Ho! Ho!