I can’t find the article I read, but if I recall correctly, they use patterns of minute variations in the power of the laser to cause a machine-detectable pattern to appear in the final printed output.
They also use microscopic yellow dot patterns. Black and white only prints use a microscopic grey print pattern at the print boundary. The technique is a form of steganography. They aren’t tracking you btw. It gets used primarily to investigate fraud. Printer companies do it primarily because if they don’t, their brand will become associated with print related crimes. There are lists of printers that do not do steganographic serialization but those machines are almost entirely too poor quality to produce any convincing counterfeits anyways.
feature originally intended as a deterrent to counterfeiting currency with laser printers.
Honestly, the USA is something special. So they do this, instead of putting modern anticounterfit (like polimer notes with transparencies) measures onto their notes.
It’s for the purpose of sterilization for counterfeit purposes. Also, high end copiers have a device installed called the BDU (Bill Detection Unit) that all scans pass through before being post processed. If the BDU detects a bill being scanned it can error and shut down the whole device until the manufacturer can send someone out to fix it. I used to be one of those people resetting BDUs at schools where a teacher thought it was a good idea to copy images of money for teaching students.
Or their corporate masters! Its not always just the government, you paranoid conspiracy nut! Take your meticulously cited sources and century of baroque acid fueled clandestine horror and go home!
It’s obvious, more ink used = more profit. The government get the tracking they want, the printer company is slightly more profitable due to extra ink usage, and the customers got fucked. Win-win!
Hold up… Was “Reality Winner” the name of an individual or a business? Like, I was stunned by the fact the yellow dots thing is a thing, but then it starts talking about “Reality Winner” and I can’t move on until I know what’s up with that name. lol
She is a former NSA translator who sent some classified documents to The Intercept. The Intercept failed to redact the document properly allowing the NSA to view identifying marks on the printout and track her down. I believe she has been release from prison.
![The future of painting [skeleton claw]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/32428976-43db-403a-a1ba-28b7d5886875.png){kind=link}
It’s so they can print the tracking dots.
i wonder: so what do the laser printers use instead?
I can’t find the article I read, but if I recall correctly, they use patterns of minute variations in the power of the laser to cause a machine-detectable pattern to appear in the final printed output.
They also use microscopic yellow dot patterns. Black and white only prints use a microscopic grey print pattern at the print boundary. The technique is a form of steganography. They aren’t tracking you btw. It gets used primarily to investigate fraud. Printer companies do it primarily because if they don’t, their brand will become associated with print related crimes. There are lists of printers that do not do steganographic serialization but those machines are almost entirely too poor quality to produce any convincing counterfeits anyways.
For the unaware: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/household-printers-tracking-code/
Honestly, the USA is something special. So they do this, instead of putting modern anticounterfit (like polimer notes with transparencies) measures onto their notes.
I think it isnt to stop it, it is to get a conviction.
This is what I mean. It’s bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. This lists the security features on a $5 note, and here’s for a £5 note.
In addition to not in lieu of. The US works very hard on preventing counterfeiting, including the creation of the Secret Service.
I do love it when a snopes article is about something being true.
Yeah, usually they’re the no fun police.
Wow, I had no idea. I thought the joke was needing full ink in an unrelated color. I didn’t know about tracking. I’m sadly unsurprised.
It’s for the purpose of sterilization for counterfeit purposes. Also, high end copiers have a device installed called the BDU (Bill Detection Unit) that all scans pass through before being post processed. If the BDU detects a bill being scanned it can error and shut down the whole device until the manufacturer can send someone out to fix it. I used to be one of those people resetting BDUs at schools where a teacher thought it was a good idea to copy images of money for teaching students.
That, and tracking down anyone else the government doesn’t like, apparently.
Or their corporate masters! Its not always just the government, you paranoid conspiracy nut! Take your meticulously cited sources and century of baroque acid fueled clandestine horror and go home!
I believe they missed this part of the memo
It’s obvious, more ink used = more profit. The government get the tracking they want, the printer company is slightly more profitable due to extra ink usage, and the customers got fucked. Win-win!
Hold up… Was “Reality Winner” the name of an individual or a business? Like, I was stunned by the fact the yellow dots thing is a thing, but then it starts talking about “Reality Winner” and I can’t move on until I know what’s up with that name. lol
She is a former NSA translator who sent some classified documents to The Intercept. The Intercept failed to redact the document properly allowing the NSA to view identifying marks on the printout and track her down. I believe she has been release from prison.
Not winning.
Reality confirmed, however.