Laser Printers As Spy-ware

It sounds like a futuristic idea, maybe for a spy show or a future crime investigation program, but spying on criminals via their color laser printer documents has been around a few years. This information came out back in 2004, but many people aren't aware it is going on.

The United States and the Dutch government track counterfeiters by marking technology. The printer companies put their serial number and manufacturing number on all the printed materials of the customers by encoding. So when the customer prints a document hidden marks are on it. The form of the numbers is encoded, but it can be decoded and used to catch counterfeiters.

The decoded values along with the customer's information could be used to catch these criminals. The information could be retrieved from the usual database a company keeps for its customers. Currently, this technology is used by the American Secret Service.

You may be able to see this encoded data on a document by shining an LED flashlight on the printout, with the aid of a magnifying glass. Look for tiny yellow dots of millimeter size; they are huddled into the printed text and the margins, spaced within each inch.

It is the tiny size, which covers not even a thousandth of a page, plus the yellow dots on white paper that renders the code invisible to the unaided eye. The code is embedded in a document by a chip deep in the color laser printer. Trying to take it out could tear up a printer.

This technology was initially created by Xerox over twenty years ago in response to other countries having qualms about them selling their wares within their borders. It was a pioneer technology back then. After Xerox develped this method to protect against counterfeiters, other printer makers did the same.

There isn't a law against this technology being used for other purposes in the United States. Some people fear that it could be used for other kinds of investigations without people being aware of this other use. Anyone concerned over this possible scenario can find sites on the web to get more information. They can contact their Congressmen and Congresswomen about any concerns.

Laser printers have made office work and freelance work easier for many people. But as with any technology, it can be used for legal and illegal purposes. For the most part people use it for legimate business and home projects.

Ir might be interesting to try and see, if you can find those yellow dots on one of your documents. If you find them, you'll know that the company you bought your color laser printer from is using this technology. Maybe your color laser printer doesn't use this embedding technology and that may give you a sigh of relief. That depends on your personal opnion of the whole scenario.

Counterfeiters should be caught and convicted of their crimes. We can't argue with that statement. After all, no one wants to get any counterfeit money.

About the Author:
Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes articles about toner and the Hewlett Packard ink.

Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com

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