Printer Privacy

Posted on July 14, 2008

The decreasing cost and growing popularity of color laser printers is causing concerns in some circles that your privacy may not be worth the paper you’re printing on.

More manufacturers are producing laser printers with technology that leaves microscopic yellow dots on each printed page that identify the serial number of the printer — which means, possibly identifying you.

The technology has been around a long time, but the lower price of color laser printers and the increasing number of models with this feature is causing renewed concerns.

The dots, which are invisible to the naked eye, can be seen using blue LED light and are used by authorities such as the Secret Service to investigate counterfeit bills that have been made with laser printers.

Privacy advocates worry that the technology could trap people with strong political dissident views, whistle-blowers or anyone who prints materials that authorities want to track.

Tests so far have found the dots produced by over 100 color laser printers models.

The dots are produced only on laser devices and not ink-jet printers, which are most commonly used at home. But laser printers, which produce more durable images, are becoming increasingly popular as their price has dropped to as low as $300. Although color laser printers made up only 4% of the 33 million printers sold last year in the USA, their sales have been growing by double digits since 2004.

The technology began as laser printers were first produced in the mid-1980s and governments and banks feared an epidemic of counterfeiting. The dots tell authorities the serial number of a printer that made a document. In some cases, it also tells the time and date it was printed. The Secret Service is the only U.S. governmental body that has the ability to decode the information.

At this time, the Secret Service is said to use this tool in tracking down counterfeiters.