X-Sieve: CMU Sieve 2.2
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:57:03 -0500
From: "Stephen D. Poe" <sdpoe@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Tracking Codes in Xerox Printers
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Dave -
For IP, if you wish.
It's nice to know that that bad presentation you had reproduced at Kinko's
can now be tracked and attributed to you...
EFF Reveals Codes in Xerox Printers
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer Mon Oct 17, 6:25 PM ET
NEW YORK - Just because a document from a color laser printer doesn't
carry your name doesn't mean no one can trace it back to you, privacy
advocates warn.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation says it has cracked the tracking codes
embedded in Xerox Corp.'s DocuColor color laser printers. Such codes are
just one way that manufacturers employ technology to help governments
fight currency counterfeiting.
"Underground democracy movements ... will always need the anonymity of
simple paper documents, but this technology makes it easier for
governments to find dissenters," said Lee Tien, EFF senior staff attorney.
"Even worse, it shows how the government and private industry make
backroom deals to weaken our privacy by compromising everyday equipment
like printers."
Researchers found patterns of yellow dots arranged in 15 by 8 grids and
printed repeatedly over every color page, said Seth Schoen, a staff
technologist at the San Francisco-based civil-liberties group.
The dots are visible only with a magnifying glass or under blue light,
which causes the yellow dots to appear black.
By analyzing test pages printed out by supporters worldwide and by
staffers at various FedEx Kinko's locations, researchers found that some
of the dots correspond to the printers' serial numbers. Other dots refer
to the date and time of the printing.
Xerox spokesman Bill McKee would not provide details about the technology.
He said the company "does not routinely share any information about its
customers," though it does respond to requests from law enforcement.
At the Secret Service, which helps develop such technologies with other
government agencies and industry, spokesman Eric Zahren said the tools are
designed "simply to make it more difficult to utilize that equipment for
the illegal activity of reproducing genuine U.S. currency."
"They do not in any way track the use of a personal computer or a person's
computer's hardware or software," he added, refusing to elaborate on the
technologies.
But Schoen said much can be gleaned from the printouts alone.
Consider two documents, one carrying the author's name and one meant to be
anonymous. By comparing the codes, it can be determined whether the two
documents came from the same printer, even if Xerox reveals nothing about
a customer's serial number, Schoen said.
The EFF is now studying other printers from well-known manufacturers with
similar tracking codes, but whose keys remain secret.
The Xerox DocuColor printers are high-end machines more likely to be found
in offices and copy centers than in homes.
The U.S. government is involved with other countries in a separate
anti-counterfeiting program meant to prevent currency from being scanned
and printed.
Adobe Systems Inc. has acknowledged quietly adding the government software
to its Photoshop software at the request of regulators and international
bankers.
But David Skidmore, a spokesman at the Federal Reserve Board, said that
the technology, known as the Counterfeit Deterrence System, was aimed
mostly at personal computers and ink-jet printers - not the high-end
machines like DocuColor.
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_hi_te/printer_tracking_codes