Interesting site for people that value privacy

[Moonliner]

Check out:

http://www.instructables.com/member/w1n5t0n/

See how your printer is ratting you out.

How to Surf anonymously

etc...

[Morrigoon]

The printer thing was interesting, but they haven't figured out a workaround. Surprising that no one's figured out how to write an update to the driver software that throws out the yellow dots.

[Ghoulish Delight]

It's not the driver, it's the firmware on the printer itself. And they are legally required to have them to identify counterfeiters.

[Alex]

My water bottle is ratting me out every time I use it too. My pillow retains information that could, if anybody cared to look, prove that I had, at some point, placed my head upon it.

Some of the stuff there is interesting, but to me anyway "I want to move through the world without leaving a trace" does not necessarily equate to "I value privacy."

[Moonliner]

It's not the driver, it's the firmware on the printer itself. And they are legally required to have them to identify counterfeiters.

Legally?

Can you show me the law?

I think it's voluntary on the part of the printer manufactures. Especially since there are a number of models available that do not appear to have the watermarking feature.

[Pirate Bill]

Check out:

http://www.instructables.com/member/w1n5t0n/


Have you read "Little Brother"?

[Moonliner]

Have you read "Little Brother"?

Now why would you ask that? ;)

"Little Brother (http://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_Brother.htm)"

[Ghoulish Delight]

Legally?

Can you show me the law?

I think it's voluntary on the part of the printer manufactures. Especially since there are a number of models available that do not appear to have the watermarking feature.My mistake, I thought I recalled it being a requirement when I learned about it a while ago.

I'm with Alex on this one.

[Kevy Baby]

How about a site for people who value piracy?

[Alex]

To be clear, I don't particularly like the marking for printers and copiers. I think if a manufacturers is intentionally adding forensic devices to their products they should reveal it and let the purchaser make up their mind.

That said, I don't think a theoretical ability to track me down necessarily equates to a violation of privacy. To prove I printed a particular piece of paper from my printer would pretty much require already knowing that I printed it. Nobody is going to find a random piece of trash at the landfill and be able to say "Alex Stroup printed this."

[Moonliner]

How about a site for people who value piracy?

It's called the Pirates Bay.

[Pirate Bill]

Nobody is going to find a random piece of trash at the landfill and be able to say "Alex Stroup printed this."

<puts on tinfoil hat>

But if you bought a used printer, and that printer was used to commit a crime, and a flier you posted around town links you to the printer...

[Alex]

Then it is yet another example of the bajillions of unlikely coincidences that could result in circumstantial evidence I had committed a crime that I did not.

Similarly, if I ejaculate into a tissue and then tissue ends up momentarily near the vagina of the dead prostitute in the garbage truck it could create the appearance I had something to do with the test. If I go around jerking off onto every fire hydrant in the neighborhood it is not a violation of my privacy if the police somehow trace this back to me and connect it to the garbage truck corpse. It is if they force every male in the city to submit a DNA sample for comparison.

I'm not denying there it creates a forensic trail. I'm just saying that forensic trails are not inherently violations of privacy. And I agree that for the most part the printer/copier forensic trail is one that has little reason to exist but it still isn't really a violation of privacy, in my opinion. Especially if entered into knowingly (as I have with every printer/copier I've purchased in almost the last decade since I learned of it).

[JWBear]

Nevertheless, I'm buying my next printer with cash!

[Pirate Bill]

For the average user yeah, a printer watermark isn't really that big of a deal. But if you plan on printing anything that might cause people to want to target you, whether for political, religious, social (etc.) reasons, then it's a good idea to know exactly what your printer is doing behind the scenes and how to defeat it.

Or reverse that. Maybe you want to leave a trace for whatever reason. It's good to know which printers have this feature.

I think it's good to have a working knowledge of how our gadgets are "spying" on us. Not necessarily for protection or even for privacy, but so we can have the choice of opting in. I think it's ridiculous that such tracking systems aren't made known openly.

One might argue that such secrecy is necessary to make it work, otherwise the bad guys will defeat it. I say that's a load of crap.

[JWBear]

Here is a list of printers that print the codes. (http://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots)

[Not Afraid]

Just glancing at the HP printers listed, they are all color laser jets and your average home ink jet printer. So, go ahead and print all of the dirty docs you want. You're safe.

[Kevy Baby]

Just glancing at the HP printers listed, they are all color laser jets and your average home ink jet printer. So, go ahead and print all of the dirty docs you want. You're safe.We use HP LaserJets (1600 and 2600) at work.

[bewitched]

Alex Stroup wrote this:

"Alex Stroup printed this."

[Ghoulish Delight]

Hey Moonbatliner, forget printer dots. You'd better ditch paper altogether:

http://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/fingerprinting-blank-paper-using-commodity-scanners

[Moonliner]

Hey Moonbatliner, forget printer dots. You'd better ditch paper altogether:

http://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/fingerprinting-blank-paper-using-commodity-scanners

Hey Turkish Ghoulish Delight, I saw that. I'm not sure I really get the point. About the only use I can see for that is verifying that the document I gave someone is really the one I gave then and not a forgery (good for wills and such). I don't see how that can be used to erode privacy since there is no way to trace it back.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Hey Turkish Ghoulish Delight, I saw that. I'm not sure I really get the point. About the only use I can see for that is verifying that the document I gave someone is really the one I gave then and not a forgery (good for wills and such). I don't see how that can be used to erode privacy since there is no way to trace it back.Surely the government can easily start requiring paper manufacturers to fingerprint all of their paper as part of the packing process. Then it's simple to know to whom each sheet was sold.