3 ms·
Monochrome laser output will also be fingerprinted by the uneven toner pattern from wear on the drum and the toner transfer roller.
by sbierwagen 6y ago
Monochrome laser output will also be fingerprinted by the uneven toner pattern from wear on the drum and the toner transfer roller.
- throwaway_pdp09 6y agoI've heard this (well, about the drum, but the transfer roller?) but it's incidental and can be changed by changing the drum, and is not an intentional tracking device that encodes date of printing, device ID etc. such that some DB can be used to track it.
- sbierwagen 6y agoTransfer roller, of course. Note how print quality degrades as you get towards the bottom of a toner cartridge on a cheap printer, the consistent pattern of print artifacts. >changed by changing the drum Sure, it depends on the threat model. If you're producing many documents some time apart, replacing drums and cartridges could be a purchase signal in of itself. If you're doing something very risky, like publishing nuclear weapon plans, ISIS recruitment flyers, or Clinton foundation invoices, then leaking just a few bits of identifying information could be life-ending. Cf https://www.gwern.net/Death-Note-Anonymity https://www.gwern.net/Death-Note-Anonymity
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]