Original Article Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color Printers By Mike Musgrove Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 19, 2005; Page D01 It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government. Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals. The content of the coded information was supposed to be a secret, available only to agencies looking for counterfeiters who use color printers. Now, the secret is out. Yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco consumer privacy group, said it had cracked the code used in a widely used line of Xerox printers, an invisible bar code of sorts that contains the serial number of the printer as well as the date and time a document was printed. With the Xerox printers, the information appears as a pattern of yellow dots, each only a millimeter wide and visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light. The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages printed from nearly every major printer manufacturer, including Hewlett-Packard Co., though its team has so far cracked the codes for only one type of Xerox printer. The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged yesterday that the markings, which are not visible to the human eye, are there, but it played down the use for invading privacy. "It's strictly a countermeasure to prevent illegal activity specific to counterfeiting," agency spokesman Eric Zahren said. "It's to protect our currency and to protect people's hard-earned money." It's unclear whether the yellow-dot codes have ever been used to make an arrest. And no one would say how long the codes have been in use. But Seth Schoen, the EFF technologist who led the organization's research, said he had seen the coding on documents produced by printers that were at least 10 years old. "It seems like someone in the government has managed to have a lot of influence in printing technology," he said. Xerox spokesman Bill McKee confirmed the existence of the hidden codes, but he said the company was simply assisting an agency that asked for help. McKee said the program was part of a cooperation with government agencies, competing manufacturers and a "consortium of banks," but would not provide further details. HP said in a statement that it is involved in anti-counterfeiting measures and supports the cooperation between the printer industry and those who are working to reduce counterfeiting. Schoen said that the existence of the encoded information could be a threat to people who live in repressive governments or those who have a legitimate need for privacy. It reminds him, he said, of a program the Soviet Union once had in place to record sample typewriter printouts in hopes of tracking the origins of underground, self-published literature. "It's disturbing that something on this scale, with so many privacy implications, happened with such a tiny amount of publicity," Schoen said. And it's not as if the information is encrypted in a highly secure fashion, Schoen said. The EFF spent months collecting samples from printers around the world and then handed them off to an intern, who came back with the results in about a week. "We were able to break this code very rapidly," Schoen said. http://www.scoopt.org/article20652-government-tracking-you.html Government Tracking You with Secret Code in Color Printers A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document. The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known. "We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of the printer," said EFF Staff Technologist Seth David Schoen. Source: Technology News Daily http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=14041&hed=Printers+Sport+Hidden+Codes Printers Sport Hidden Codes The Electronic Frontier Foundation alleges some color printers can help track consumer information through hidden codes. October 18, 2005 The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy and digital rights organization, alleged Tuesday that there are codes embedded in printouts made by some color laser printers that can be used to track the origin of a printed document. The codes are ostensibly a part of anti-counterfeiting measures developed by government agencies to curb the creation of fake currency but could have serious implications for consumer privacy, according to privacy advocates. A research team led by the EFF said that it has broken the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document. Weve found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of the printer, said Seth David Schoen, staff technologist at EFF. According to Mr. Schoen, the dots are yellow, less than one millimeter in diameter, and are typically repeated over each page of a document. The pattern is visible under blue light with the help of a magnifying glass or a microscope, the foundation said. What other deals have been or are being made to ensure that our technology rats on us? -Lee Tien, Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF and its partners began their project to break the printer code with the Xerox DocuColor line. Researchers compared dots from test pages, noting similarities and differences in their arrangement, and then found a simple way to read the pattern, the foundation said. So far, weve only broken the code for Xerox DocuColor printers, said Mr. Schoen. But we believe that other models from other manufacturers include the same personally identifiable information in their tracking dots. EFF has said that the tracking data is used by government agencies, especially the United States Secret Service, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. A Secret Service spokesperson, Jonathan Cherry, said the organization does work with other government agencies and industry partners on preventive technological countermeasures designed to discourage the illegal use of printers and copiers in the production of counterfeit currencies. Mr. Cherry declined to elaborate on the technology or the countermeasures. They are specific and limited to the reproduction of currency and in no way track or affect the use of personal computer hardware and software, he said. Printer manufacturer Xerox said that the company would not elaborate on the codes but said that it has and will cooperate with government agencies. We do work, as any manufacturer does, with any investigating agency as requested, said Xerox spokesperson Bill Mckee. But it is important to note that we do not routinely give customer information to anyone. Mr. Mckee said that Xeroxs cooperation is limited to technologies involved in color printing and copying. Privacy Concerns This is not the first time that the issue of tracking codes embedded in color printers has raised the hackles of privacy advocates. Nearly six years ago, Lauren Weinstein, moderator of the Privacy Forum and the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility, said he met with Xerox officials to discuss the issue. Mr. Weinstein said that there were rumors of hidden codes for a long time. Though often dismissed as an urban legend, Mr. Weinstein said that he spoke to a Xerox official in 1999 who confirmed the presence of the codes as a measure against possible counterfeiting attempts. Printers also include other anti-counterfeiting measures, such as dumping extra cyan toner onto images when the unit believes it has detected an attempt to specifically copy currency, said Mr. Weinstein. But the attempts bring into spotlight the issue of consumer rights and privacy, he said, because few consumers know about the codes and there are no laws to control the use of the information gleaned from the codes. As the technology has gotten better, the Secret Service is understandably concerned that not just crooks but ordinary people can print counterfeit currency as a one-off thing, said Mr. Weinstein. But then this becomes an example of data creep, which is when you have something implemented for one purpose but ends up morphing into other things because there are no controls. The EFF has said that the latest discovery calls for greater transparency in the workings between the technology industry and the government. It shows how the government and private industry make backroom deals to weaken our privacy by compromising everyday equipment like printers, said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. The logical next question is: What other deals have been or are being made to ensure that our technology rats on us? The EFF has released a complete list of printers where dots on color printers can be seen on its web site.