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List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots
- ck2 16y agoBy 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 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397675
- pmjordan 16y agoI would think that the secret service has the funds to purchase a specimen of each released printer model and test it themselves.
- gxti 16y agoIf 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.
- rythie 16y agoI would imagine they already have a much more comprehensive list anyway.
- boredguy8 16y agoCan 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 16y agoIt was intended as a tracking mechanism against counterfeit currency.
- jamesbressi 16y agoIsn't that just a beautiful explanation for security measures? Kind of like suspending or limiting Miranda Rights because of terror.
- motters 16y agoThat'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.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- thefool 16y agoBut this isn't govt mandatated right? Its just a printer manufactures internal policy as I understand it.
- there 16y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation is also recognized in many photo-editing software packages like photoshop. not government mandated, but i'm sure the software companies get leaned on to support it. http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vnc6rm&s=5 http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vnc6rm&s=5
- megablast 16y agoOn top of this, a number of applications, like Photoshop, will detect that you are trying to print out a US note, and will not allow it. This seems like a lot of effort to prevent the stupidest form of counterfeiting, and doing nothing against the real problem.
- michaelfairley 16y agoRe 2: Supposedly the manufacturer is supposed to keep track of which printers go to which stores, and the stores are supposed to keep track of the credit card used to purchase the printers.
- tibbon 16y agoHmm. Note to self: buy printers with non-sequential currency. Then again, I wonder if they'll stop accepting cash for printer purchases if enough people did that (like they did with iPads)
- marcus 16y agoI'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 16y ago> 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 16y agoThat is easily solvable - clog/duct-tape the exit nozzle or tamper with the cartridge test (a lot of the substitute cartridges already disable this)
- nnutter 16y agoNitpick here, this is a list of color laser printers only.
- jkent 16y agoDoes 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.
- Lagged2Death 16y agoI'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 16y agoOn 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.
- jrockway 16y agoIt'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.
- mjcohen 16y agoIf we know where the yellow dots go, just print a yellow rectangle over them.
- Devilboy 16y agoWhat if I don't want a yellow rectangle there?