Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color Printers

[jaerdaph]

If it helps track terrorists and stop counterfiters, more power to 'em.

JUST STAY AWAY FROM MY elf pr0n!

 

[Arravis]

My impression was that the tracking stuff was mostly for the use of the Secret Service against counterfitting than anything else. There is no reason it couldn't be used for other endlessly vile purposes though.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

There is no reason it couldn't be used for other endlessly vile purposes though.

Such as?

I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, I'm just wondering what kind of thing could be tracked that I would not want tracked that is by nature non-criminal. The worst thing I can think of is flyers that criticize the government, but given that there are entire libraries of that stuff available at the average protest demonstration I'm not sure I see the problem.

 

[ragboy]

Such as?

I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, I'm just wondering what kind of thing could be tracked that I would not want tracked that is by nature non-criminal. The worst thing I can think of is flyers that criticize the government, but given that there are entire libraries of that stuff available at the average protest demonstration I'm not sure I see the problem.

I think it's more of a thought process that normal everyday people don't really subscribe to: It's the foundation of something much more evil. Sure, they can track anything that's printed back to a printer. Yay! Helps us stop counterfeiters. More power to them! Okay, so they can track my elf pr0n and political cartoons, but who cares. They're not doing anything WITH that information.

The fear is what if they are? People throughout American history have had 'files' opened up on them for much less. I agree it's probably conspiracy baiting, but people in the gaming and speculative fiction industries are in the business of 'seeing the future.' What happens when a new political regime enters the fray in 10 - 15 years? Are their policies going to be the same? And more importantly, WHO decides what those policies are? In a representative government, you really have no say, other than letters to your reps and your vote...

And then you have to consider the risk today: Criminals getting at information that you don't want them to have. They can take something you've printed and tell that YOU printed it. Same concept as the corrupt government. It's just one more seemingly disassociated piece of information that can build a very good picture for a criminal.

Don't want to get too political, but to me, it's chilling because this is a foundation for much much more evil practices. Especially for technologies that are much more sensitive: Networks, encryption keys, etc.

 

[EricNoah]

And just the idea that someone has decided for me that my safety/security are more important than my freedom/liberty. It's a delicate balancing act. But not informing the general public doesn't seem to be the best way to go about this...

 

[the Jester]

I hadn't realized this was a secret... >snip< Actually, I think I heard about it at Kinko's...

Likewise, I work at FedEx Kinkos (formerly only Kinkos) and I've known about the tags for years. Though it's mostly for anti-counterfeiting purposes, I don't like the 'Big Brother'-like aspects of the tech.

I don't want to get into politics, though, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Dark Jezter]

And just the idea that someone has decided for me that my safety/security are more important than my freedom/liberty. It's a delicate balancing act. But not informing the general public doesn't seem to be the best way to go about this...

I'm sorry, but just how has your "Freedom/Liberty" been compromised by the Secret Service being able to look up the serial number of the printer used to print a paper?

 

[Staffan]

It means that if you use your printer to print "subversive" posters or flyers, those can be tracked back to you. This might not be as big a threat in the USA as in certain other countries.

Also, as the article said, the pattern apparently doesn't exactly require NSA-level cryptography techniques to crack. The EFF handed a bunch of examples off to an intern, who managed to figure the system out in a week.

 

[Arravis]

Jester, glad to see another Kinko's alumni. I got my degree in Graphic Design from LSU, but Kinko's taught me much of what I actually use today at my current job. Anyway... I had heard that in the years since I left (I worked for them from 95–97) it had gone pretty downhill. The store I worked at was a great place and a awesome experience. Anyway...

I'm sort of on the fence on this instance. There are some privacy issues which are valid, but perhaps the good outweighs the bad on this one.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

So all this means is that if you are planning on doing subversive work that you are afraid will be tracked, purchase your printer with cash and don't register it with the company.

Or maybe print to yellow paper? Might be hard to read the pattern on paper of the same color?

Or buy second-hand printers.

Or use black and white printers only.