Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: Blksheep on February 01, 2012, 10:52 am
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Having worked in computers for 20 years I came across this article years ago and for some reason it just popped into my head. I am not going to go into 'why' you should be concerned... this is just an FYI:
Government Uses Color Laser Printer Technology to Track Documents
Practice embeds hidden, traceable data in every printed page.
By Jason Tuohey, PCWorld Nov 22, 2004 4:00 am
WASHINGTON--Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printed there that could be used to trace the document back to you.
According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters.
Peter Crean, a senior research fellow at Xerox, says his company's laser printers, copiers and multifunction workstations, such as its WorkCentre Pro series, put the "serial number of each machine coded in little yellow dots" in every printout. The millimeter-sized dots appear about every inch on a page, nestled within the printed words and margins.
"It's a trail back to you, like a license plate," Crean says.
The dots' minuscule size, covering less than one-thousandth of the page, along with their color combination of yellow on white, makes them invisible to the naked eye, Crean says. One way to determine if your color laser is applying this tracking process is to shine a blue LED light--say, from a keychain laser flashlight--on your page and use a magnifier.
Crime Fighting vs. Privacy
Laser-printing technology makes it incredibly easy to counterfeit money and documents, and Crean says the dots, in use in some printers for decades, allow law enforcement to identify and track down counterfeiters.
However, they could also be employed to track a document back to any person or business that printed it. Although the technology has existed for a long time, printer companies have not been required to notify customers of the feature.
Lorelei Pagano, a counterfeiting specialist with the U.S. Secret Service, stresses that the government uses the embedded serial numbers only when alerted to a forgery. "The only time any information is gained from these documents is purely in [the case of] a criminal act," she says.
John Morris, a lawyer for The Center for Democracy and Technology , says, "That type of assurance doesn't really assure me at all, unless there's some type of statute." He adds, "At a bare minimum, there needs to be a notice to consumers."
If the practice disturbs you, don't bother trying to disable the encoding mechanism--you'll probably just break your printer.
Crean describes the device as a chip located "way in the machine, right near the laser" that embeds the dots when the document "is about 20 billionths of a second" from printing.
"Standard mischief won't get you around it," Crean adds.
Neither Crean nor Pagano has an estimate of how many laser printers, copiers, and multifunction devices track documents, but they say that the practice is commonplace among major printer companies.
"The industry absolutely has been extraordinarily helpful [to law enforcement]," Pagano says.
According to Pagano, counterfeiting cases are brought to the Secret Service, which checks the documents, determines the brand and serial number of the printer, and contacts the company. Some, like Xerox, have a customer database, and they share the information with the government.
Crean says Xerox and the government have a good relationship. "The U.S. government had been on board all along--they would actually come out to our labs," Crean says.
History
Unlike ink jet printers, laser printers, fax machines, and copiers fire a laser through a mirror and series of lenses to embed the document or image on a page. Such devices range from a little over $100 to more than $1000, and are designed for both home and office.
Crean says Xerox pioneered this technology about 20 years ago, to assuage fears that their color copiers could easily be used to counterfeit bills.
"We developed the first (encoding mechanism) in house because several countries had expressed concern about allowing us to sell the printers in their country," Crean says.
Since then, he says, many other companies have adopted the practice.
The United States is not the only country teaming with private industry to fight counterfeiters. A recent article points to the Dutch government as using similar anticounterfeiting methods, and cites Canon as a company with encoding technology. Canon USA declined to comment.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/118664/government_uses_color_laser_printer_technology_to_track_documents.html
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Relevant: all those who use laser to print labels.
On a related note, I wonder if there's soft or hard mod to block the printer's hidden function.
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
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Interesting... although the article mentions it's generally used for identifying forgeries, it could potentially used against SR venders. Might be worth picking up a cheap inkject printer just to be on the safe side, as mentioned.
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
lmao. now i just have to dye all my printer paper yellow and we are a go.
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Yes, I think most of us are aware of these things. Not to be paranoid, but I think of anything I purchase as being directly traceable to me unless I can show it to be otherwise.
For your source of packaging, label makers, paper, ink, digital cameras et al, it is preferable to buy 2nd hand. Optimally with cash. It is cheaper and less traceable.
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https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots
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Just don't get a COLOR laser printer. The black and white ones are cheaper anyway.
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"PC LOAD LETTER?! What the fuck does that mean?"
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"PC LOAD LETTER?! What the fuck does that mean?"
LOL, RA is fighting with his printer...
In other news, wouldn't a thermal printer be the perfect way to get around all this junk? Most of us don't need high resolution photo printing here after all.
No ink. No laser. Just paper. Easy enough to purchase a couple dozen rolls anonymously 2nd hand. They hardly ever break down as well.
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https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots
Was just going to post this. It was very helpful in determining which printer to buy. =]
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Even if a vendor buys a laser printer with the codes: if you buy it in cash, not near your hometown, and only use it for SR labels, I don't see what evidence could be gained from it.
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I would suggest that using yellow paper would not help; the 'combination' mentioned might refer to it using its' own white with the yellow, and given the micro nature of the technology, sufficient magnification/led reaction would function regardless. Definitely seek a confirmed, reliable solution.
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I would suggest that using yellow paper would not help; the 'combination' mentioned might refer to it using its' own white with the yellow, and given the micro nature of the technology, sufficient magnification/led reaction would function regardless. Definitely seek a confirmed, reliable solution.
It was a joke, son. Even if the paper were the exact same color of the ink signature, the ink would certainly be made so as to make it readable by some other means: chemical reagents maybe, or black light.
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
Time to head to OfficeMax for some construction paper
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I would suggest that using yellow paper would not help; the 'combination' mentioned might refer to it using its' own white with the yellow, and given the micro nature of the technology, sufficient magnification/led reaction would function regardless. Definitely seek a confirmed, reliable solution.
It was a joke, son. Even if the paper were the exact same color of the ink signature, the ink would certainly be made so as to make it readable by some other means: chemical reagents maybe, or black light.
I was originally under the impression that the put this tiny fluid of microscopic pebbles, so to speak, with the printer ID written on them, but I could be mistaken in how the ID tech works...
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I was originally under the impression that the put this tiny fluid of microscopic pebbles, so to speak, with the printer ID written on them, but I could be mistaken in how the ID tech works...
I hope this was also a joke. The EFF explains exactly how it works here:
https://www.eff.org/wp/investigating-machine-identification-code-technology-color-laser-printers
I do remember seeing an episode of one of those forensic shows (not a fake one like CSI) where LE determined that a guy had printed a death threat based on the machine identification code his printer put on the paper.
I don't see any reason they couldn't also implement this technology into inkjets but so far it appears to be relegated to color laser printers.
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Go on ebay and order a type writer...they work with labels too! Problem solved :)
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I was under the belief that this technology was in all color printers?
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This has been covered already in http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=16718
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Go on ebay and order a type writer...they work with labels too! Problem solved :)
My man, I love your userid. My favorite TV show of all time!
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"PC LOAD LETTER?! What the fuck does that mean?"
Michael... Bolton?
I believe you have my staplerrrrrrrr.
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"PC LOAD LETTER?! What the fuck does that mean?"
Michael... Bolton?
I believe you have my staplerrrrrrrr.
I'll burn down the building.
Kidddinnnggg!
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Even if a vendor buys a laser printer with the codes: if you buy it in cash, not near your hometown, and only use it for SR labels, I don't see what evidence could be gained from it.
Working the other way, they catch you some other way, then they take your printer, they could use the hidden codes to link to other crimes they might not have been able to you.
So basically it might help them catch you but it could help them fuck you more if they do catch you some other way.
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Buy an inkjet. Done.
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Buy an inkjet. Done.
Problem: I don't know of a single inkjet printer that has ink that doesn't run if wet. This is a problem with making labels, you never know when it will rain and if it falls on the label, it will run. I got a package from a vendor who used inkjet, and it must've got wet along the way. I could barely make out my address; luckily the postman could.
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Buy an inkjet. Done.
Problem: I don't know of a single inkjet printer that has ink that doesn't run if wet. This is a problem with making labels, you never know when it will rain and if it falls on the label, it will run. I got a package from a vendor who used inkjet, and it must've got wet along the way. I could barely make out my address; luckily the postman could.
You can buy waterproof ink online
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Are you people that are fretting telling me you all own *color* laser printers? They are rather expensive. Just get a cheaper monochrome laser printer. Problem solved.
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
Probably not. It shouldn't be too hard to detect yellow chemicals on yellow paper, when using UV light or other methods.
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Buy an inkjet. Done.
Problem: I don't know of a single inkjet printer that has ink that doesn't run if wet. This is a problem with making labels, you never know when it will rain and if it falls on the label, it will run. I got a package from a vendor who used inkjet, and it must've got wet along the way. I could barely make out my address; luckily the postman could.
I am happy my inkjet labels are not water resistant. It is a good excuse for the wide clear tape I use to waterproof them (that also helps secure the package).
I was also wondering if printing a scattering of yellow dots in a random pattern might obscure the coded message (for people with a nice lazer printer they want to use).
Thought it good to bump this topic to resurface this warning about "color laser printer steganography" letting LE know what printer printed those nice labels on that SR package. I got lucky and chose an inkjet (that hopefully they do not have a similar danger added to) before learning about this. Vendors should probably get a warning about color lazer printers in the vendor guide or a guide added and stickied that was not provided by SR staff so they are not seen as encouraging law breaking ;-).
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There should be a strong correlation to posts like these and hardware-for-sale on the Road... (vendors: hint hint)
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My lazer printer prints my name ssn and home address on everything i print after i downloaded the brother5001ep77764NSAsecret2013 update. Oh shiiiii
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Are you people that are fretting telling me you all own *color* laser printers? They are rather expensive. Just get a cheaper monochrome laser printer. Problem solved.
Yep, I use a monochrome laser printer. And it's 20 years old....and I got it at a flea market...the darn thing still works great and ink is cheap but tough to find software to make it work after windows 95
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Solution: superimposition. Just run the paper through the printer twice and the microscopic dots will be useless.
And if you purchase a laser printer secondhand, it will be pseudonymous (similar to Bitcoin).
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Prosecutor: HP 5130, ISN'T IT TRUE that you've been paid to testify here today?
HP5130: zzzzz-zzzzzpppccchhh zzzz-zzzzzz...
(sorry, it's been a long week)
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https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots
Great Post!
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https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots
Great Post!
If anyone is feeling generous, the EEF recently started accepting Bitcoin donations again:
https://supporters.eff.org/donate
They definitely deserve any donations they get for all the great work they've been doing. :)
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Solution: superimposition. Just run the paper through the printer twice and the microscopic dots will be useless.
And if you purchase a laser printer secondhand, it will be pseudonymous (similar to Bitcoin).
I'm not sure how successful this would be as the codes act like a bar code and could be separated?
Anyway, I don't think tracking who bought the printer down is the problem. Like everything, buy with cash and away from your home. The problem is that if you are caught they can then link you to specific documents.
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Your best bet, if you are into it bigtime, would be to buy a second hand laser printer off of craigslist or the like....not ebay or amazon, nothing that could trace the money back to you.
While you are at it, get an old pre-P4 computer because the NSA leak suggests that they can monitor all actions through your hardware. I would think, since it's leaked now, that the technology would be around 10-15 years old, and I do remember reading about such things implanted in chips and motherboards.
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Wonder how many other things are compromised like printers to get the big 3 that covers everything-pedophiles, terrorists and drugs? Seems anything is ok to do if it's to catch THOSE guys.
It sure would be dumb these days to use a cell phone to make drops, if you had local customers.
Hell the way the internet is going these days, your printer will be updated by your phone which also updates your refrigerator and thermostat, etc.
That 'Real ID' thing is coming pretty soon too, and it will be incrementally be used to make people less anonymous. Governments are fucking evil. The people we vote in don't care about privacy (even the ones who stay awake in briefings like so many agencies have claimed to be doing)
You know when they did the altered terrorist prisoner tactics (which some say are torture) the CIA took notes through all the briefings about who was present, when they went to the bathroom, etc. because they knew that later they would claim that the politician 'missed' that briefing and 'I had NO IDEA that we were using torture!) Are the old pagers around any more? That was only 'one way' communication, wasn't it?
I too remember back when the specific id thing with the processors made a lot of people mad, and Intel and/or AMD changed the code so that it didn't do that anymore. I bet they do that now.
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hi
how about watermarking the labels with colors of various dots and sizes...
which are not so noticeable... wrt to the address..
Anyway if this was true in so many years the hacker community would have traced the problem, and would have workarounds
around the issue.
Do we have any metric on this kind of information being used on any investigation or in a court case ?
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some smart vendors use label makers. Just make the label and stick it on. Havent tried it myself, so cannot vouch for this.
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Don't use color cartridge or get a black and white printer. What is so hard about that?
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*Cough* Craigs List *Cough*
You're over thinking it guys- you don't need a top of the line brand new printer to do effective work.
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Errrrr... What Jack said
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In other news, wouldn't a thermal printer be the perfect way to get around all this junk? Most of us don't need high resolution photo printing here after all.
No ink. No laser. Just paper. Easy enough to purchase a couple dozen rolls anonymously 2nd hand. They hardly ever break down as well.
This would be our suggestion. :)
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If you get a monochromatic blue light and use to to view the page in a dark room the yellow dots should become very obvious black dots.
Black only laser printers have not been shown to have this feature. Very few bubblejets have this feature but some have been found.
This is primarily to prevent forgery, thankfully they are not targeting text printers like those used to make labels. But you never know when that could change so keep on the look out.
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Go on ebay and order a type writer...they work with labels too! Problem solved :)
On the contrary, every typewrite has a unique wear pattern. They naturally have and ID number of sorts due to this. During the cold war many spies were caught when their typewriter matched up to ink on paper.
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Buy an inkjet. Done.
Problem: I don't know of a single inkjet printer that has ink that doesn't run if wet. This is a problem with making labels, you never know when it will rain and if it falls on the label, it will run. I got a package from a vendor who used inkjet, and it must've got wet along the way. I could barely make out my address; luckily the postman could.
Epson Claria ink is waterproof. Also a favorite of fake-id makers.
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
omfg lol. Laughing far harder than I should be.
Good info. Thanks.
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
omfg lol. Laughing far harder than I should be.
Good info. Thanks.
Funny yes, but, it is possible to read the dots of yellow ink on any color of yellow paper. I don't know if printing random yellow dots with the same yellow ink would fix this or not. Maybe printing the paper all yellow with the same ink?
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Print on yellow paper. Problem solved. :)
omfg lol. Laughing far harder than I should be.
Good info. Thanks.
Funny yes, but, it is possible to read the dots of yellow ink on any color of yellow paper. I don't know if printing random yellow dots with the same yellow ink would fix this or not. Maybe printing the paper all yellow with the same ink?
Well, of course. He was joking. That's why I laughed lol. It was funny.