Yellow Dots are Human Rights Violation: EU Commission

The Vice-President of the European Union, Franco Frattini has issued an official statement against the concept of secret yellow grids to identify counterfeits. It states that the use of any secret codes through printers will lead to human rights violation.

“To the extent that individuals may be identified through material printed or copied using certain equipment, such processing may give rise to the violation of fundamental human rights, namely the right to privacy and private life. It also might violate the right to protection of personal data.”

According to him, there were no laws in the European Union that would allow printer manufacturers to permit printing unique secret codes in (laser) printers.

“The Commission is not aware of any specific laws either at national or at Community level governing tracking mechanisms in colour laser printers and photocopiers.”

Secret Service in the US is using these secret codes to track offenders involved in counterfeiting currencies. Almost all laser printer manufacturers are abiding by the secret service’s acumen and have introduced invisible yellow dots that can potentially identify each print to the printer’s owner.