OK, I admit it…I’m an unabashed geek. Trust me, it comes with the territory of being an engineer.
Science fiction like Jurassic Park and Minority Report, while admittedly freaky, are also very intriguing from a ‘hypothetical’ standpoint. It’s when you see the consequences of the abusive use of the science that it starts to get really scary.
That’s kind of how I feel about this little discovery. But this one is real.
Did you know your printer might be watching you?
I remember reading about this late last year when PC World first broke the story.
I’m honestly not sure what freaks me out more about this: the fact that it’s happening, or the fact that we are apparently not supposed to know about it.
I had just about forgotten about it until today, when I saw it is back in the news. Apparently the Electronic Frontier Foundation (website), a non-profit digital consumer e-rights watchdog, has cracked the code.
Many colour laser printers mark the pages they produce with tiny yellow dots that, according to technology watchdogs, can reveal information about you and your computer.(…)
EFF researchers collected pages from various copy centres in California this summer and analysed them, using blue light to highlight the dots, which are barely visible under normal light. It took just a week to crack the code.
EFF and its partners report that the dots contains information about the date and time that a page was made, as well as the serial number of the printer used.
Now, obviously there are some very good reasons to have this technology, such as the stated goal of preventing counterfeiting and tracking documents found at crime scenes.
But why the hush-hush about it? As the EFF says:
With no laws on the books, there’s nothing to stop the privacy violations this technology enables.
No kidding. I still remember (back in my youth) printing out the Anarchist’s Cookbook because I thought a lot of the stuff in there was really fascinating (for those who don’t know, it mostly has to do with the construction of pipe bombs, IED’s, etc.).
I didn’t plan on actually making any of that crap, mind you, but we engineers are curious folk; I wanted to know how all this stuff I keep reading about works.
Imagine if I left that printout behind in a coffee shop or something. The government would immediately have known the serial number of the printer that printed that.
Now, being a good consumer, I may have registered my printer serial number with the company for warranty information.
Or maybe I purchased it at a big-box retail store with a credit card.
Either way, it could be traced back to me by someone who had interest.
Now combine that with all the lifting/easing of laws under the Patriot Act for the government to acquire information.
Throw in the accounts of people being held in Federal prisons with no probable cause, and no protection from illegal search and seizure.
I could have found myself in Gitmo as a suspected terrorist, all for being curious about how a chemical bomb works.
Scary.
So, is your printer watching you? Here is a list of printers that are known to encode (or not to encode) information on printed sheets.
Big brother is watching. Something else to be concerned about along with the information stored by the black box in your car and the ability to track a car via ez-pass. (onstar, anyone?) Hmm, I wonder what my mouse is watching.
Have you seen the new BMW commercial (described here)?
Basically, the car notifies some service-person that it needs an oil change. That service-person then calls the customer and asks if he’d like to schedule it.
He asks how she knew, she says ‘the car told me’.
It creeped me out on a couple of different levels:
Saw it, very troubling. Thumbsuckers, heh.
This stuff totally creeps me out. I’m one of those people who actually shy away from new gadgetry because I know many have hidden motives, like grocery store cards. In the bay area, we have electronic passes to get through toll bridges. Simple enough, yet they can also track any vehicle equipped with one. Cell phones are another example. While I am all for being able to track down criminals and forgery artists, I resent being tracked myself. I would rather forego some great new trick at catching criminals than give up my privacy.
I always do my best to examine any new piece of technology that I’m thinking about picking up.
For me, the convenience of a cell phone outweighs the detriment of being ‘trackable’. But only because I can just leave it behind when I choose.
But I will never use a grocery card. Out of principle I boycott stores that only offer discounts to people who carry their card.
I think a great article/diary (book?) could be written about how things like this (ez-pass, grocery cards, etc) paved the way in the consumer mindset for the easy approval of the Patriot Act.
That is, the cheapening of privacy. It has become a tradeable commodity, for convenience with regards to private industry, for ‘security’ with regards to government.
Grocery cards- I never give them my real information. My last one was
issued to
Miss Privacy
MYOB Court
(Real town)
totally made up phone number, with real area code
I bet someone in your area code is really confused when they keep getting telemarketers calling and asking if they can ‘please speak with Ms. Privacy’. 😀
What is a grocery store card?
It’s a card issued to shoppers that entitles them to discounts on various items. Some stores (Wegmans) has tied their card to the ability to pay for groceries with a check, thereby ensuring that they have correct information for your card.
some stores use the card to keep track of spending habits so that they can send you targeted advertisements / coupons.
That creeps me out, and is the reason that I don’t support stores that employ these ‘discount’ cards.
Totally w/ ya on ‘creeps me out.’
let’s you substitute your phone number for having your card. So I just use a friend’s phone number. You might have heard of them? Safeway…
This is more a guerilla action, I think, because it confuses the data. IF you use a card, do trade it around from time to time….
Since I have a cell phone, the only phone number I know by heart anymore is my own 😉
Out of principle I boycott stores that only offer discounts to people who carry their card.
Ha! I thought I was the only one who would do that, but I’m glad to be in good company.
I sign up with fake names…or pretend I left my card at home, and have them scan the “store” card.
I used to do this until I moved. Now, all the supermarkets in the area use them. But, I loathe the principal of them and resent them tracking my purchases. So, like others, I refuse to use any real information on the forms.
I will also have to break down and get a cell phone soon for my daughter and I. She is getting to the age where having such would be better than not having such.
Realistically, we are being tracked in virtually every aspect of our life and the Patriot Act has made it easier and more extensive than ever before.