Watch Out For The Little Dots On Your Printer
This looked like a freaky paranoid delusion a couple of days ago:
In a purported effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you’re using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what’s worse, there are no laws to prevent abuse.
The ACLU recently issued a report revealing that the FBI has amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on the organization since 2001, as well as documents concerning other non-violent groups, including Greenpeace and United for Peace and Justice. In the current political climate, it’s not hard to imagine the government using the ability to determine who may have printed what document for purposes other than identifying counterfeiters.
Lorie Lewis, a spokeswoman at the US Secret Service, declined to confirm the report directly but acknowledged the agency “has worked together with other government agencies and industry on preventive technological countermeasures designed to discourage the illegal use of printers and copiers in the production of counterfeit currency”.
Odd little astroturf ‘community groups’, front organizations for major Parties, not to mention campaigners in student politics, might have to change where they get their photocopying done.
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