Yellow Dots of Mystery: Is Your Printer Spying on You?

Step 5 Now what?

Now that you've seen the dots, what can you do?

• Learn more. Visit us online at http://www.eff.org/issues/printers/ .
• Show your friends. Despite repeated media interest -- and limited acknowledgments by printer companies -- the existence of yellow tracking dots and similar digital fingerprints is still a complete surprise to almost everyone. Some people even express skepticism that these tracking techniques really exist. You can help spread the word just by showing your friends that the dots are there.
• Send EFF your print samples EFF is continuing to collect sample output from color laser printers to help our research. You can download a PDF file from our web site, print test sheets on your color laser printer, and send them to us in the mail.
• Contact manufacturers via the Seeing Yellow site. It's outrageous that manufacturers make secret deals to compromise our privacy. What's worse, some printer companies have assumed that people who object must be counterfeiters. The Seeing Yellow project from the MIT Media Lab is helping individuals get in touch with printer companies to express privacy concerns and ask the companies to turn off the tracking and stop building surveillance features into communication technology. You can find contact information for your printer manufacturer -- or manufacturers of devices you're considering purchasing. http://www.seeingyellow.com
• Join EFF to support our work on privacy, anonymity, and free speech issues at the intersection of law and technology. http://www.eff.org/support

Special thanks to the California Consumer Protection Foundation for funding the project.

Comments

[RN1358]

 I have been servicing copiers and printers for over 30 years (unfortunately). The yellow dots you are talking about are there to prevent counterfitting, not so much for currency, but for Stock certificates, Bonds, etc. I have been told by several manufacturer's reps that the yellow dots are required by the government, but I have not been able to verify that as fact. As for the comment that "your printer is spying on you", Canon, Xerox, Minolta, etc. couldn't care less what you copy...they just want to sell more printers, copiers and supplies! Most newer color copiers also will detect if you try to copy currency, and prevent it from printing out. One model I use to service would generate an error code that had to be reset by the tech if you tried to copy currency; another model would display a warning the first 2 times you tried to copy currency, and on the third attempt, the machine would be disabled, and would require the replacement of a very expensive main pcb to fix the machine. And, of course "nobody here tried to copy money" was the first thing the customer would say!

[djr6789]

i tried making giant a4 sized £10 notes and my printer stopped working :O and now i know why :O

[nate121]

this is creepy however these were made to stop counterfidders...so store cleaks can easialy cheak to see if fake. and kids do this alot they print off a few dollars and spend em at the mini mart.

[wethecom]

seems logical ...and was my first thought..but the dots may not fit on a bill and only partially...but i dont know how far apart the dots are ..out of curiosity i am going to look into it more

[ceramiceye]

yea, cause I'm sure that a clerk who isn't able to identify a fake by the texture of the paper (or by the hundreds of other techniques used by mint to show that money is authentic) would DEFINITELY know how to look for little dots to see if it was made on a color printer. The dots are not intended to stop counterfitters, they are more likely intended to track down people who write bomb threats, ranson notes, etc. Those may be good things, but it's still an invasion of privacy.

[Hycro]

Yea, that seems more likely, to track down printed threats of some sort.

[static]

Right in that paper money isn't printed on paper, the texture will be the first tip off something is hinky. No doubt there are those that may go through the process to use a paper that's similar to the feel of legal money. But only counterfeit large bills would make that worth the effort. Large bills get closer scrutiny by a clerk, so the chance of getting caught is greater.

[nate121]

hmmmmm your right however some peopl are pretty stupid.

[boyfaceddog]

Yes, yes. Many the time has been when I've seen kiddies at the minimart buying skittles and beer with fake money. WTF, dude? You can't just pull this stuff out of your arse.

[icabear3]

well, now, by your own admission..... maybe you can ;) lol