The article in PCWorld was based on information provided by Peter Crean, who was a senior research fellow at Xerox at the time. When color printers were first introduced, he said, governments were worried the devices would be used for all sorts of forgery, particularly counterfeiting money.
An early solution came from Japan, where the yellow-dot technology, known as printer steganography, was originally developed as a security measure. Fuji, which has been in a joint-venture partnership with Xerox since , was the first to implement the codes in printers. Amid rampant counterfeiting issues in Japan in the mids, Crean said, the company began programming color printers to embed the dots.
There are no laws or regulations in the US that force printer manufacturers to include the tracking codes. In addition to the yellow-dot technology, Xerox implemented another feature around the same time that forced color copiers to shut down if they detected steganography in documents indicating they were currency.
In , the US Central Intelligence Agency approached Xerox about using the same technology to stop the unauthorized copying of classified documents, and Crean provided some ideas in a brainstorming session with two agents that year, he said.
When Crean talked to PCWorld in , Xerox had been pushing a PR campaign focused on the technology and science behind some of its innovations, including steganography. Crean had talked publicly about the codes a few times before, and nothing much had come of it. The company likely assumed the techie readers of PCWorld would get a kick out of the obscure feature. Salespeople at Xerox were told at this point to refer all questions about the dots to Xerox headquarters, Crean said.
A security researcher at the EFF, Seth Schoen, began looking into the dots shortly after the article was published, hoping to figure out how to read the encoded patterns. The organization asked the public to submit samples of their own printed documents, Schoen said, which helped them to compare differences between patterns on many printer models. Eventually, a volunteer working with the EFF noticed that the dots represented a binary code, Schoen said.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout. An incredible cutting-edge residential project focusing on wellbeing and convenience has been green-lit. Best Shopping Deals. In the know quiz. Technology Innovation Design From five dollar notes to word documents, here are the secret codes hidden in plain sight DID you know your five dollar note has a hidden code that prevents certain tasks?
Matthew Dunn. More from design. Join the conversation. Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout. These yellow dots form a coded pattern on every page the printer produces and can be used to identify specific details about We've long been concerned about the human rights risks of printer tracking dots for anyone who publishes printed works with modern technology.
Tracking dots are the secret marks that many popular color laser printers and photocopiers scatter across every document they touch. The marks, almost invisible to the eye, Note: As of October 13th, , some information in this paper may be out of date. Please note that EFF is no longer requesting or accepting samples of printer dots.
IntroductionOn Nov. Join EFF Lists. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Podcast Episode Warning Added Some of the documents that we previously received through FOIA suggested that all major manufacturers of color laser printers entered a secret agreement with governments to ensure that the output of those printers is forensically traceable. This list is no longer being updated. Introduction This is a list of color laser printer models that do or do not print yellow tracking dots on their output.
Limitations of this information A "no" simply means that we couldn't see yellow dots; it does not prove that there is no forensic watermarking present. Sources of information We have employed three sources of information. Table of printers Manufacturer Model Dots? Infoprint Color PS3 yes dithering? DialtaColor CF unclear dithering?
0コメント