Musings in Search of a Muse

When PCWorld.com reported that the "Government uses color laser printer technology to track documents" I wasn't totally surprised. A friend of mine works for Xerox and was telling me about the anti-copying technology built into some of the machines he uses. For example, one of them recognizes the recent forms of U.S. paper currency and stops the reproduction process. Probably a good idea, but even that won't stop people's stupidity. While paying for something at a pharmacy a few years ago I spotting a b&w photocopy of a $10 bill with "Don't do this again!" scrawled underneath. Pointing to the paper, I asked the clerk "Someone was having fun?" thinking it might have been an employee messing with the store copier. Not catching my drift, he replied, "Yup, one of our clerks took a one-sided b&w copy for a candy bar and gave change."

The article isn't completely about counterfeiting, though. It explains how many color laser printers print discreet, yellow dots that can be used to trace the printer to a user. "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. ... 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."

All this assumes the printer is registered somewhere. Printers in corporate offices probably are, but wouldn't someone really determined to "do a good job" put more than basic effort into not being traceable? There were no warranty cards with my printer because I got it from a pile of leftover hardware at a closed computer store so who would be able to trace it to me? What this essentially does is make it much easier to catch the casual ne'er-do-well. All well and good, I'm sure, but what efforts are in place to trace mass counterfeiters, or terrorists that print documents, or other high-level transgressors?

This simple bit of technology will yield results if the criminals slip up or simply don't thoroughly think things through. Much like the practice of engrave Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) on larger parts of a vehicle helped after the February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Authorities traced the VIN found on a transmission part to van rented in New Jersey but it probably would have stopped there if the terrorist hadn't been stupid enough to ask for a refund on his rental deposit.