

List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots - ertug
http://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots

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marcus
I'd rather have one of the printers listed as having yellow tracking dots and
yank out the color cartridges.

Its easier to disable a security measure you know than praying there isn't a
security measure you don't know.

There is still a chance of a redundancy but I believe it is somewhat lower -
as normally companies would do the bare minimum to comply with a directive
like this one.

~~~
Silhouette
> I'd rather have one of the printers listed as having yellow tracking dots
> and yank out the color cartridges.

The trouble is that, for one dubious reason or another, a lot of modern laser
printers will refuse to print without a complete set of cartridges that report
that they contain sufficient toner. Whether the colour in question is actually
required and whether enough toner is physically present do not seem to be
relevant.

~~~
marcus
That is easily solvable - clog/duct-tape the exit nozzle or tamper with the
cartridge test (a lot of the substitute cartridges already disable this)

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Lagged2Death
I'd like to see a list of actual crimes solved or prevented through the use of
these tracking dots.

Because I'm guessing that would be a fast read.

~~~
hugh3
On the other hand, I'd like to see a list of actual privacy violations or
other problems caused by these tracking dots. I'm guessing that would also be
a fast read.

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jrockway
It's scary that companies feel the obligation to do the government favors
without any actual legal mandate.

(Because if they don't... who knows; their printer shipment could be delayed
at customs, their accounting practices could receive extra scrutiny, there
could be a witness that says the CEO was seen at the scene of that murder. Who
says the US is not a police state?)

Also, why not get one of these yellow-dot printers and just have your printer
driver add additional yellow dots to it? Then when you counterfeit money, the
Secret Service will go after someone else. BRILLANT.

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boredguy8
Can someone clarify for me:

1) Why do manufacturers do this? Is it for their own internal warranty control
/ tracking, or is there a broader federal mandate motivating this?

2) The dots are only useful in after-the-fact analysis, correct? If I print
something and then there's reason to suspect me they can print something,
compare, and verify, but there's no mechanism to find the initial document and
find the printer, correct?

~~~
d2viant
It was intended as a tracking mechanism against counterfeit currency.

~~~
motters
That's the explanation I've heard given in the past, although I don't know if
it's the official one given. The East German Stasi also used to mark
typewriters so that they could tell who wrote subversive articles.

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jkent
Does this apply to international printer models as well?

I'm actually a bit spooked by this and it must be illegal somewhere. Well done
EFF for publicising this.

I won't be registering my laser printer any time soon.

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nnutter
Nitpick here, this is a list of color laser printers only.

~~~
seancron
As I understand it, only color laser printers have the resolution to print
these yellow dots at such a small size.

~~~
nnutter
Ah, thank you for explaining that. I had thought I had heard about this in
other printers as well.

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mjcohen
If we know where the yellow dots go, just print a yellow rectangle over them.

~~~
Devilboy
What if I don't want a yellow rectangle there?

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ck2
By providing this list, they are making it super easy for the secret service
to give the "no dot" manufacturers a call/visit (which is who asked for the
dots to be on there in the first place if I am not mistaken).

They could always use the lego printer
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397675>

~~~
gxti
If the Secret Service is relying on the EFF to figure out which printers don't
have tracking dots then they might as well just give up and go home.

