If It Prints, I'll Let You Know

I read something incredibly scary on the Consumerist today. Did you know just about all printers now print “invisible” information on every page that contains the printer’s make and model and the serial number? This information is contained in very small dots called tracking dots scattered all over the page. Supposedly, this method of printing out your printer’s info on every page was a means of locating and catching pesky counterfeiters.

How it all works isn’t very well understood, but it seems that the arrangement of these dots on the page indicate when and where the document was printed. These dots are yellow in color and can be viewed under a very bright blue light. A microscope should do the trick as well. They are only printed when using color printer ink. Black and white printer ink and settings do not print out the dots.

Apparently, some manufacturers acknowledge these info dots while others do not. There currently isn’t a law that says manufacturers have to track when and where people print documents. However, there also has not been a law enacted that says manufacturers can’t do this as well.

We’re living in scary times. A group out of MIT has devoted itself to raising awareness to this violation of privacy called Seeing Yellow. Supposedly, a Secret Service agent showed up at someone’s door after they inquired to the print manufacturer about how to turn off the tracking dots. As those at the Consumerist have said, “Uh, scary.”

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