# Do laser printers really insert a secret code into everything you print? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952 "2005-10-19T18:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/1 "2005-10-19T18:18:33Z")
Someone sent me this link today: > **[Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://www.eff.org)** > > Defending your rights in the digital world Look at the photos. Is this for real? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/2 "2005-10-19T18:29:57Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Someone sent me this link today: > > [Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending your rights in the digital world](http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/) > > Look at the photos. Is this for real? Yes, it’s for real, according to NPR. They interviewed a Kodak scientist and he explained that it was a technique to foil counterfeiters, though there were concerns that it could be used to inhibit free speech (don’t use your printer to make signs saying, “The Boss Is A Fink” and paste them all over your workplace). As I understand it, not all printers do this. But most of the high-end ones preferred by counterfeiters do. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/3 "2005-10-19T18:37:17Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Someone sent me this link today: > > [http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/](http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/) > > Look at the photos. Is this for real? Yes, this is for real, and \ somewhat disturbing, IMO. In particular, I agree with this: > [@EFF Website](#): > > It is especially worrisome that the Secret Service was able to coordinate with private-sector manufacturers on the development of this technology since at least the early 1990s with no public awareness, much less public discussion, of the privacy and anonymity risks for users of this technology. This raises the general concern that the U.S. government might have promoted the development of identification mechanisms in other devices and might do so in the future with new technologies. The marking technology is possibly one of many instances of the federal government’s unwillingness to be forthright with questionable law enforcement techniques. In addition to the serious privacy concerns, we must consider the implications of the government’s possible lack of accountability to the public on matters affecting technology use and development. The EFF is a respected organization, certainly not some whackjob conspiracy-theory site. \ I have tried it on my printer, and it works as advertised. The EFF website has an [application](http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/) that will allow you to see what your printer has to say about you, but you’ll probably need a magnifying glass and a blue LED flashlight (I found a keychain one at Radio Shack) to be able to see the dots. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/4 "2005-10-19T18:38:43Z")
[Link](http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/) to the EFF’s main page on this, which explains it a little more. You can also send them a test page to help them with the decoding of other companies’ formats if you own a color laser printer/copier. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/5 "2005-10-19T19:27:03Z")
Old news actually. Xerox developed the technology about 20 years ago. It’s just taken until now for color lasers to become popular mass-market items, and for someone to reverse-engineer the coding. url=http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118664,00.asp]Cite ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/6 "2005-10-19T19:28:42Z")
fixed link… [Cite](http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118664,00.asp) ---
**Author:** ![MyNameIsEarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@MyNameIsEarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyNameIsEarl)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-laser-printers-really-insert-a-secret-code-into-everything-you-print/326952/7 "2005-10-19T19:33:07Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Old news actually. > > Xerox developed the technology about 20 years ago. It’s just taken until now for color lasers to become popular mass-market items, and for someone to reverse-engineer the coding. I got caught up in replying to another post and **gotpasswords** beat me to it, but yeah - this is _incredibly_ old news in the IT world. However, I believe that EFF’s efforts are the first time anyone has come up with actual _proof_ of it, and they are certainly the first group to figure out what the encoding actually means.