Tin foil hats at the ready. Your printer could be allowing documents printed with it to be traced back to itself and possibly you. Does it sound absurd? Yes, but you had better believe it.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation are increasingly concerned about the use of data being encoded into printouts that was intended to stop counterfeiters. According to the EFF:
It all sounds very sensationalist, doesn't it? What has set alarm bells off is the news that the FBI has been collecting documents on non-violent groups such as the ALCU, Greenpeace and United for Peace and Justice. The concern here being that the FBI will be able to find out who has been printing what.
Privacy is, of course, the key issue here. Can the encoding technology intended to track counterfeits be abused to invade people's privacy? The EFF think so, and they're conducting some research to try to prove it and prompt for a change in the law. They have a set of test sheets which colour laser printer/copier owners can print out and send in to be analysed to see just what information is being given up by certain printers.
Yet again technology and privacy look to be clashing. The outcome of EFF's research will no doubt be interesting, as will any subsequent requests to change the law to control the usage of encoded tracking dots. Definitely one to watch, with tin foil hat in hand.
