Your laser printer's not the only thing spying on you...

I was reading this thread and realized some of you might not be aware that while your laser printer's putting little dots on your printouts, your software may also be passing judgement on what you're trying to print, behind your back.

A lot of printer drivers now have to look at the image to see if it looks like money. The printer companies are supplied a binary that they have to pass the data through to do that check. And so do some programs like Jasc and Adobe.

That binary originally came from a company called Digimarc, but now it comes right from CBCDG. And no one knows what's in it, because it's a binary. They don't give you the source.

If your image editing software or printer driver's little built-in gubmint conscience thinks you're trying to make some cheap money, you get a popup to this website to set you straight. And for all you know, it sends some evidence to them as well, although I just tried it and our firewall didn't spot anything.

Now, Digimarc is an old name in the sekret gubmint ID badge business. They are big into the RealID proposal. They are your gubmint's old buddy. But hey, this pdf says there are real good reasons for you to be happy about it. Although having read it just now, I don't think many of you will be all that comforted.

Is it so bad, having them look at your work to make sure you're not printing up a few Euros? Probably not, but... how do you really know what all they're looking for? Maybe that module can update itself or call Momma for help on your internet connection now and then. I've poked it into action a few times today and watched to see if any traffic was generated and didn't see anything. But you never know.

Still, you can sleep easy tonight knowing that CBCDG is looking at your documents for you.

Wow I was awre that they had built in the dot thing to get a serial number on every page printed, but I did not know that their spying went beyond that.

One has to wonder if they have built in audio and cameras into stuff so that they can listen or watch us anytime they want to. I guess if that has not already happened, it will be next.

Originally posted by Tom Bedlam


If your image editing software or printer driver's little built-in gubmint conscience thinks you're trying to make some cheap money, you get a popup to this website to set you straight. And for all you know, it sends some evidence to them as well, although I just tried it and our firewall didn't spot anything.

it says in plain view on the website you quoted that it prevents it being copied but does NOT forward any info.

a bit like trying to copy a DVD or Audio CD, it just stops you from doing it but doesnt go reporting ip addys or other details to anyone at all.

taken from the link quoted above:

The CDS has been voluntarily adopted by hardware and software manufacturers, and prevents personal computers and digital imaging tools from capturing or reproducing the image of a protected banknote. The technology does not have the capacity to track the use of a personal computer or digital imaging tools

edit to tidy up post

[edit on 15/7/07 by Obliv_au]

Originally posted by Obliv_au

it says in plain view on the website you quoted that it prevents it being copied but does NOT forward any info.

I find it interesting that sw manufacturers are building in any sort of filter to inspect what you're doing.

As far as that goes, if they were all upfront and aboveboard, why supply it as a binary? Why not as C source code? Why not publish the code?

[edit on 15-7-2007 by Tom Bedlam]

Ohhh I feel much better now, the company that didn't tell us they were spying on us through marking all our printed materials has told us they can't and or don't report any information. WHEWWWW I am glad they cleared that up, I am sure they wouldn't flat out LIE to us...


WOULD THEY?

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
Ohhh I feel much better now, the company that didn't tell us they were spying on us through marking all our printed materials has told us they can't and or don't report any information. WHEWWWW I am glad they cleared that up, I am sure they wouldn't flat out LIE to us...


WOULD THEY?

it prevents money being copied so you wont actually have any illegal image on your drive, will you?

i can see it now, (insert 3 letter govt agency here) knocks on your door, "your printer informed us via the net that your trying to counterfiet money and we are here looking for evidence"

well your printer didnt allow it to be scanned at all so you dont even have the image on your hdd, so what evidence are they going to have? are they going to rely on the heresay of your printer?

sheesh, talk about paranoid..

Tom, just like Audio CD + DVD copyright they are not going to make the copy protection software open source for everyone to manipulate and figure out how to bypass it. that just defeats the purpose of having the protection in the first place.

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
Ohhh I feel much better now, the company that didn't tell us they were spying on us through marking all our printed materials has told us they can't and or don't report any information. WHEWWWW I am glad they cleared that up, I am sure they wouldn't flat out LIE to us...


WOULD THEY?

just reading your post again, and its not *ALL* printed material and its not *ALL* printers.

99% of home users DONT own expensive laser printers, they have a cheap bubblejet or PSC (still a bubblejet) which would generate sub standard money and be blatantly obvious its fraudulent.

do you know how much a laser printer cartridge costs? just the cartridge alone? its about 2-3x more than the average home user spends on an entire printer setup.

The first sign of moisture would see the ink run off the paper quicker than paris hilton's makeup when she was taken to jail.


[edit on 15/7/07 by Obliv_au]

I think Nortons Antivirus should be added to that list; man I hate that program, and you can't get rid of it once you have it.

I don't think it would be very hard for the company to compile a fontbook and then scan documents for keywords and phrases that you have typed or scanned in.

Could end up being like an e-version of ECHELON.

There is a side of this which could backfire. Everyone has something to hide and companies may choose not to implement it once they realise that they open themselves up to a total level of control. CEOs don't want their little white boxes spying on everything the and their staff do.

ECHELON only works because it is funded by Governments who are unphased by its intrusiveness. This is due to their widespread use of secure, encrypted phone and data lines. ECHELON doesn't touch them but this could.

People in glass houses...