This was started as an anti counterfeiting measure way back in the day, and on high end machines you have to present credentials to purchase them and the contract states you must notify the manufacturer if the printer changes location or owners. I just purchased a $35K Xerox and can not tell it even has a marking, but I know it is their ;) Supposedly it even marks what the date and time the print occurred. Lower end machines, the kind you would purchase with cash, typically only track down to the lot any way, much like a cop can tell what conveyance store sold a particular bottle of bud and roughly when it was sold by tracing the batch numbers. Morel of the story, if your going to send a terrorist manifesto out then print it out at a busy Kinko's during winter prior to its release (so the fact your wearing gloves is not suspicious) and deal with the fact it will be traced to that side of town (that Kinko's), but it was long enough ago (at least 3, preferably six months) their should be littlie evidence left you were their... Oh and don't forget they can track the envelopes to the store they were sold at, so purchase then near the Kinko's, and don't touch anything, work in a fiber free environment, use self adhesive stamps and envelopes (again, purchased near the Kinko's), mail them out of a public postal box that you approaches on foot wearing a decent costume (near the Kinko's) and don't ever go back to that Kinko's. Repeat until captured, preferably before you bomb the white house. On that note has any one else seen the mass proliferation of counterfeit one dollar bills lately? I stopped using cash for a while because I felt bad passing them on and hated the loss of monetary value by trashing them. -----Original Message----- From: plug-discuss-bounces@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Jim Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 4:04 PM To: Main PLUG discussion list Subject: Re: More Big Brother Exactly. Forensic marking only works if the person who bought the printer at the store pays for it using some means that can be tracked or registers the printer for the warranty. So it's easy to get around. Pay with cash. Don't send in the warranty card. Of course you do risk the printer breaking down. Buy only the printer. If you buy something else and send in the warranty card for that, it gives them a way to track you. Buy a used printer, but remember to pay cash for it. Dan Lund wrote: > Interesting... I wonder how this will effect the used-printer market? :P > > On 7/20/07, keith smith wrote: >> Find Out If Your Printer is Spying on You >> >> Did you know that many (in fact, most) color laser printers are spying on >> you whenever you print a document? >> >> http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/35239 -- "That income tax you know it's nothing more than legal robbery" Sidney "Pa" Larkin The magic HD-DVD number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss