4 ms·

In the vast majority of cases, the watermark data wouldn't point anywhere interesting. Maybe the serial number would point to a public library or a warehouse wh

In the vast majority of cases, the watermark data wouldn't point anywhere interesting. Maybe the serial number would point to a public library or a warehouse where the printer was stored prior to sale. Certainly The Intercept had no way of knowing that the serial number would correspond to an office printer at the NSA or one of their contractors. I don't think we should expect news outlets to scour every printed document for these watermarks and remove them. Most aren't that technically savvy and this solidly seems like the responsibility of the person doing the leaking. Leaking is dangerous and risky. I don't know the leaker personally but I could understand someone feeling that documents need to be released to the public and, at the same time, feeling like they can't evade the NSA's investigation. At that point any counter-measures probably seem pointless, especially for those who are not technical and can't imagine any bounds to the NSA investigative powers.

zerohm 9y ago
Actually the Intercept should have known. Margaret Thatcher used water marking to find which Ministry was leaking stories in the 80s. It's standard practice to retype documents before sharing, set up well thought out, secure amnesty boxes, etc.
- notatoad 9y ago
  >It's standard practice to retype documents before sharing My first thought is that even blogs like AndroidPolice protect their sources better than The Intercept does here - they go as far as re-creating screenshots or renders of phone leaks. The Intercept's lack of care is astounding. There wasn't any reason they needed to publish the fact that they received printed copies, let alone the actual scans.
gozur88 9y ago
>Certainly The Intercept had no way of knowing that the serial number would correspond to an office printer at the NSA or one of their contractors. They should have assumed it. While I agree they can't be expected to have enough technical savvy to remove watermarks, they should have re-typed it and hid or (better) destroyed the original. What she did was illegal and the government is going to nail her to the wall for it, if for no other reason than as an example to others contemplating the same thing. I'm astounded how little effort they (both the leaker and the Intercept) put into avoiding discovery. If it were me the watermarks would have been gone before the document left my possession. If you depend on other people to keep your secrets you're doomed.
toomanybeersies 9y ago
Simply converting the scans to black and white (i.e. not greyscale) would've avoided the problem with the dots, as is pointed out in the Errata Security blog post.

zerohm 9y ago

Actually the Intercept should have known. Margaret Thatcher used water marking to find which Ministry was leaking stories in the 80s. It's standard practice to retype documents before sharing, set up well thought out, secure amnesty boxes, etc.

notatoad 9y ago
>It's standard practice to retype documents before sharing My first thought is that even blogs like AndroidPolice protect their sources better than The Intercept does here - they go as far as re-creating screenshots or renders of phone leaks. The Intercept's lack of care is astounding. There wasn't any reason they needed to publish the fact that they received printed copies, let alone the actual scans.

gozur88 9y ago

>Certainly The Intercept had no way of knowing that the serial number would correspond to an office printer at the NSA or one of their contractors. They should have assumed it. While I agree they can't be expected to have enough technical savvy to remove watermarks, they should have re-typed it and hid or (better) destroyed the original. What she did was illegal and the government is going to nail her to the wall for it, if for no other reason than as an example to others contemplating the same thing. I'm astounded how little effort they (both the leaker and the Intercept) put into avoiding discovery. If it were me the watermarks would have been gone before the document left my possession. If you depend on other people to keep your secrets you're doomed.

toomanybeersies 9y ago

Simply converting the scans to black and white (i.e. not greyscale) would've avoided the problem with the dots, as is pointed out in the Errata Security blog post.