[AccessD] OT: Group cracks code hidden in printers to ID coun terfeiters

Elam, Debbie DElam at jenkens.com
Wed Oct 19 11:03:26 CDT 2005


Definitely not conspiracy.  Hunter had to fill out lots of documents to get
a particularly good printer for Progrssive.  The quality was high enough to
do good counterfeits and he learned that in addition to the paperwork to buy
this thing, there was also the microscopic encoding.  It was meant as a
warning so they were not careless about unauthorized people using the
printer because they would take the heat.

Debbie

-----Original Message-----
From: Rocky Smolin - Beach Access Software [mailto:bchacc at san.rr.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 9:59 AM
To: AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: [AccessD] OT: Group cracks code hidden in printers to ID
counterfeiters


Who knew? 
WASHINGTON - It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages
coming out of your color printer might 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. saying that 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 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," Schoen 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 the existence of the encoded information could be a threat to
people who live under repressive governments or those who have a legitimate
need for privacy. It reminds him, he said, of a program the former 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 though 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. 

Rocky Smolin
Beach Access Software
http://www.e-z-mrp.com
858-259-4334


-- 
AccessD mailing list
AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
- JENKENS & GILCHRIST E-MAIL NOTICE - This transmission may be: (1) subject
to the Attorney-Client Privilege, (2) an attorney work product, or (3)
strictly confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this
message, you may not disclose, print, copy or disseminate this information.
If you have received this in error, please reply and notify the sender
(only) and delete the message. Unauthorized interception of this e-mail is a
violation of federal criminal law. 
This communication does not reflect an intention by the sender or the
sender's client or principal to conduct a transaction or make any agreement
by electronic means.  Nothing contained in this message or in any attachment
shall satisfy the requirements for a writing, and nothing contained herein
shall constitute a contract or electronic signature under the Electronic
Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, any version of the Uniform
Electronic Transactions Act or any other statute governing electronic
transactions.



More information about the AccessD mailing list