Did you know that every time you print a document, you could be leaving behind a paper trail that allows the United States government to track your activity? That’s right; there’s a conspiracy taking place between the government and the manufacturers of printers to create invisible tracking (generally in the form of yellow dots) on every piece of paper that is printed on by most standard printers. This highly controversial practice is going unnoticed by the average person, partially because people don’t know about the problem and partially due to the fact that most people don’t feel that they have anything to hide.
Even if you aren’t prone to concerns about government conspiracies, you might want to think twice about the slippery slope that you’re getting on when you refuse to care about the government tracking you through the personal items that you print from your home computer. The information may not necessarily be secret but it’s still private and the government doesn’t have any right to track the legal activities you engage in at your own home.
How Do the Yellow Dots Work?
The technology behind the yellow dot tracking system is both simple and ingenious. The yellow dots are printed in a specific pattern designed to create a system that would allow the government to identify the individual who printed on a particular piece of paper based on the printer; the dots can identify the printer by its serial number. Sometimes the dots can even identify the date and time at which the document was printed. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been working to crack the codes used for these dots but they’ve only been moderately successful.
The Legality of the Yellow Dots
Is it even legal for the government and the manufacturers of printers to work together to track the activity of customers? The answer to that question is unclear. On the one hand, there is no law explicitly stating that it is illegal to track your activity through your printer. On the other hand, there are some concerns that tracking without your knowledge or consent could be a human rights violation. For now, the establishment continues to use the technology and doesn’t seem to face the risk of any serious consequences.
The Reasoning Behind Using Yellow Dots
The United States government takes the stance that it is necessary to use yellow dot tracking to assist them in combating the counterfeiting of money; people with advanced computer skills could theoretically use their home printers to print fake copies of money. If that money can be tracked through the yellow dots, the government can more easily identify counterfeit bills. The government can then pursue the counterfeiters since they’ll have details on their identification present in the yellow dots.
The Argument Against the Government’s Reasoning
Although counterfeiting is without doubt a problem, it isn’t something that is likely to be a widespread issue in this form. Counterfeiters do not print fake money using a home computer, so there is little to justify such broad violation of privacy. Additionally, there are valid concerns that the government is using this tracking information for other purposes in addition to preventing counterfeiting.
What Do the Printer Manufacturers Have To Say?
Printer manufacturers have been suspiciously quiet about their role in the yellow dot conspiracy. There is no legal motivation for manufacturers to comply with the United States government’s tracking requests; nothing requires them to do so. However, the majority of printer manufacturers do indeed implement this technology. Although some manufacturers do inform their customers that tracking may be taking place (in the small legalese documentation that comes with the printer), not all manufacturers do so. To date, none of the printer manufacturers have denied the fact that the yellow dots are designed for the purpose of tracking and identifying individuals using their printers.
Printers and Copiers Using These Yellow Dots
It has been found that the majority of colour printers and copiers sold around the world today have an implementation of this type of tracking technology. Not all of them use the yellow dot method of invisible tracking, but it’s the most common method in use on these products. Brother, Canon, Dell, Konika, Samsung, Toshiba and Xerox are just a few of the common brand names enrolled.
If you want to know more about the specific types of printers that implement the yellow dot technology check the updated list of printers provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This list is a service that aims to help protect the privacy of individual consumers.
Want to See the Yellow Dots?
Are you reading this and thinking that it’s all a big joke? You can actually see the yellow dots as printed on your own computer if you want to do so. They are visible when a blue LED light is shone on to the paper in a dark room. They are also visible through the use of a high-quality scanner and photo manipulation software; simply scan the document and then use the software to look only at the ‘blue channel’ of the document’s colour scheme. The dots will be there on any document that you’ve printed.
How to Help Stop the Yellow Dot Printer Conspiracy
If you are worried about the possibility of being tracked, you may be wondering if there is anything that you can do about this. Indeed, there is. There are organisations that are currently working to stop the use of the yellow dot tracking system; joining one of these organisations is one major way to get involved in ending the conspiracy. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Seeing Yellow are two good places to start.
The second thing that you can do is to call or write to the printer manufacturer and express your concerns; hassling the companies to cease their implementation of the tracking system could make the trend stop. The easiest way to get your point across is to stop buying printers with the technology.
Other steps that you can take are those which are designed to raise awareness of the problem. Start letting others know that the Yellow Dot tracking system is out there. In terms of protecting yourself in the short term, your best bet is to switch over to a black-and-white printer which is much less likely to have the tracking technology in it.
Why You Should Care
Some people who read this article are going to immediately be alarmed by the fact that the United States government is tracking their behaviour through their printers. You should be. If you’re not, the most likely reason is that you don’t feel that you have anything to hide. However, you should be aware of the fact that the issue is a violation of your right to privacy.
If the government can track your activity in such an insidious manner, what will be the next violation of privacy that the government implements? Think about that before you decide that this isn’t an issue worthy of your attention.
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