Why printers add secret tracking dots
They’re almost invisible but contain a hidden code – and now their presence on a leaked document has sparked speculation about their usefulness to FBI investigators.
www.bbc.com - Thread starter Gunfighter14e2
- Start date
www.bbc.com 
Humm
Easy to spoof. Run the paper through a couple of copiers with nothing printed on it. Flip it around, run through multiple printers.
This is old news.
The reality is that they can get all your files off the cloud and auto backup and from Microsoft and Apple. The minute you type it, assume it’s un-secure.
Sirhr
This is old news.
The reality is that they can get all your files off the cloud and auto backup and from Microsoft and Apple. The minute you type it, assume it’s un-secure.
Sirhr
That technology has been around since day one.Why printers add secret tracking dots
They’re almost invisible but contain a hidden code – and now their presence on a leaked document has sparked speculation about their usefulness to FBI investigators.
HP did a lot of the work on it
Hello, 1998 called and wants their headlines back.
How is that done with a computer & printer that has never seen the internet and are hooked together with a cable?
Some stuff has "dial home" protocols in the firmware. Files get out and find their way "home". It uses the same basic patterns as a mesh/adhoc network... Never mind that commercial printers don't have to meet any EMI certifications of RF spectrum noise...
Only if you save shit to a cloud. Which I never do.
I have neither a google nor apple account.
I fully understand there are items the sheep have that can call home,... EMI certs mean nothing these days in the real world. FCC enforcement is nothing but a black hole. We see RF issues all the time any more,...
I was implying commercial equipment is not required to meet Mil-Std-461.
Understand, but they are required to meet FCC requirements an most everything these days do not. The amount of trash in the air is almost over whelming these days, from most all sources. I can still recall the days before radio suppression ignition wires came out, the only people you would mess up were real close. In today's world some guy with a plasma TV 4 blocks away, can hose up lots of stuff right from the box, let alone if he really knows how to "tune it up". For those of in radio it's a constant battle, be they neighbors with B/S toy's, the power company, or the local mfg plant. Plus they will not believe you until prove it to them, on your nickel/gear. The FCC is worthless,...
So just because you don't save things on the cloud... or use Internet or... whatever... don't assume your devices are not broadcasting, transmitting, saving data, sharing data... all the time.
Try (with your cell phone present... not off... but not on either...) discussing a theme or subject that you NEVER talked about before. Or never googled or had interest in. And talk about it so your phone can 'hear' it. And watch the ads come in. This has happened to me more times than I can count.
And just because government databases are not collecting data on you, don't believe for a second that commercial ones are not. And those databases are deep and wide and detailed. And totally available to Government or L.E. with a simple phone call. A warrant may be required. But some commercial entities will also simply share to an investigation. It's their data, not yours.
If you buy a computer and bring it home, it's location will be findable. If you bought it with a credit card or your Best Buy Consumer card and cash... or gave your phone number at checkout, then it's linked to you by the scanner. Think it can't be turned on remotely, even if you don't have it 'connected' to your WiFi???
Your phone is sending out tracking data on you down to a few feet wherever you go. The GPS chips don't require any cell phone tower trangulation any more. Your location is known all the time.
Why do you think that UBL and his minions went back to couriers and paper communications? And that was 2008 - 2010... and they still got tagged. You don't think that in 12 more years, the tracking hasn't gotten even better?
There are ways to avoid any tracking. Buy used devices at pawn shops. Including printers. Buy sim cards with cash far from home. Use faraday bags except when near WIFI where you can be sure you are not on camera (McDonalds Parking Lots are quite good). Never take device out of faraday bag anywhere near your home or work or places you frequent. Use crypto for everything (assuming the person on the other end has it.) There's a million things you can do. But all are such a PITA that they are reserved for real tradecraft or people generally doing bad things. Law abiding citizens simply can't be bothered. Oh and when you start doing this... you will pop up on the radar screen anyway because you are using... tradecraft. Doh!!!
Realistically, all this stuff fine and good and nothing to worry about for a law abiding citizen. Until you get someone who creates an environment where formerly law-abiding people are now considered criminals. Political opposition? Gun ownership. Wrong color. Wrong religion. And by then it's too late.
Just your presence here (as LL keeps pointing out) is enough that your nodes are probably tapped, tracked and if not followed... followable with the flick of a switch. How long do you think it then takes to link every eBay purchase (of fuel filters... good lord), 4473's, books you have bought, websites you visited, everything you ever ordered from Gunbroker, your car license number, the traffic cameras that have picked you up (speeding or not), facial recognition from airports, every flight, meals purchased and who you were with (on camera... or their phone was next to you for an hour right before you paid for the meal... with your card. Do you think that's not all on records dating back to c. 2000 when e-Commerce became the rule? Do you think that Apple and Google don't have every cell phone that you have ever been within bluetooth range of more than once? Noone throws out data. It's more valuable than gold these days. Why do you think Google and FB are worth hundreds of billions for doing... nothing. Free mail and free search engines? Guess what... YOU are the product. And they sell it to government and political organizations all the time.
Big data is... big. Misused it has the potential to be disasterous. And the ability to mis-use it is barely regulated. Really, it's the wild west. And the wilder it is... the tougher it is on the settlers and the easier it is on the gunmen, the Indians and the badguys. And noone is making any efforts to rein it in. Because right now it benefits the powers-that-be. Whether Zuckerberg or Bezos or the DNC or the FBI. We hope for the best right now. The reality is that the risks are tremendous. Remember what Strock and Paige called all of us... filthy, ignorant Walmart shoppers who should not be allowed to vote or something like that. This was a senior Counterintelligence FBI official and an FBI attorney. The anomaly in the FBI. Almost certainly. At least I hope so.
Dont' expect it go get better. So tinfoil hat is not too strong a term with some of this. The OP's printer example is just one example and the paper dot thingie is easily defeated. It's designed to track threat letters, ransom notes, counterfeit bills (the reason HP helped design the system after their copiers were being used to make some great fake bills). But the 'counterfeiting' excuse really just gave an excuse to be able to track every single piece of paper back to you... the printer owner. But it's the tip of the iceberg and if you don't want anyone knowing who put the "Leave my Sammich Alone Karen" note in the office fridge... you can fix it. They'll just find you another way, though.
There are some excellent web sites dedicated to OpSec.
Cheers,
Sirhr
P.S. Anyone ever go to Def-Con? They had a game called "Spot the Fed?" It was the highlight of the early Def-Con conventions c. 1994 - 2000. Be fun to see one now.
Try (with your cell phone present... not off... but not on either...) discussing a theme or subject that you NEVER talked about before. Or never googled or had interest in. And talk about it so your phone can 'hear' it. And watch the ads come in. This has happened to me more times than I can count.
And just because government databases are not collecting data on you, don't believe for a second that commercial ones are not. And those databases are deep and wide and detailed. And totally available to Government or L.E. with a simple phone call. A warrant may be required. But some commercial entities will also simply share to an investigation. It's their data, not yours.
If you buy a computer and bring it home, it's location will be findable. If you bought it with a credit card or your Best Buy Consumer card and cash... or gave your phone number at checkout, then it's linked to you by the scanner. Think it can't be turned on remotely, even if you don't have it 'connected' to your WiFi???
Your phone is sending out tracking data on you down to a few feet wherever you go. The GPS chips don't require any cell phone tower trangulation any more. Your location is known all the time.
Why do you think that UBL and his minions went back to couriers and paper communications? And that was 2008 - 2010... and they still got tagged. You don't think that in 12 more years, the tracking hasn't gotten even better?
There are ways to avoid any tracking. Buy used devices at pawn shops. Including printers. Buy sim cards with cash far from home. Use faraday bags except when near WIFI where you can be sure you are not on camera (McDonalds Parking Lots are quite good). Never take device out of faraday bag anywhere near your home or work or places you frequent. Use crypto for everything (assuming the person on the other end has it.) There's a million things you can do. But all are such a PITA that they are reserved for real tradecraft or people generally doing bad things. Law abiding citizens simply can't be bothered. Oh and when you start doing this... you will pop up on the radar screen anyway because you are using... tradecraft. Doh!!!
Realistically, all this stuff fine and good and nothing to worry about for a law abiding citizen. Until you get someone who creates an environment where formerly law-abiding people are now considered criminals. Political opposition? Gun ownership. Wrong color. Wrong religion. And by then it's too late.
Just your presence here (as LL keeps pointing out) is enough that your nodes are probably tapped, tracked and if not followed... followable with the flick of a switch. How long do you think it then takes to link every eBay purchase (of fuel filters... good lord), 4473's, books you have bought, websites you visited, everything you ever ordered from Gunbroker, your car license number, the traffic cameras that have picked you up (speeding or not), facial recognition from airports, every flight, meals purchased and who you were with (on camera... or their phone was next to you for an hour right before you paid for the meal... with your card. Do you think that's not all on records dating back to c. 2000 when e-Commerce became the rule? Do you think that Apple and Google don't have every cell phone that you have ever been within bluetooth range of more than once? Noone throws out data. It's more valuable than gold these days. Why do you think Google and FB are worth hundreds of billions for doing... nothing. Free mail and free search engines? Guess what... YOU are the product. And they sell it to government and political organizations all the time.
Big data is... big. Misused it has the potential to be disasterous. And the ability to mis-use it is barely regulated. Really, it's the wild west. And the wilder it is... the tougher it is on the settlers and the easier it is on the gunmen, the Indians and the badguys. And noone is making any efforts to rein it in. Because right now it benefits the powers-that-be. Whether Zuckerberg or Bezos or the DNC or the FBI. We hope for the best right now. The reality is that the risks are tremendous. Remember what Strock and Paige called all of us... filthy, ignorant Walmart shoppers who should not be allowed to vote or something like that. This was a senior Counterintelligence FBI official and an FBI attorney. The anomaly in the FBI. Almost certainly. At least I hope so.
Dont' expect it go get better. So tinfoil hat is not too strong a term with some of this. The OP's printer example is just one example and the paper dot thingie is easily defeated. It's designed to track threat letters, ransom notes, counterfeit bills (the reason HP helped design the system after their copiers were being used to make some great fake bills). But the 'counterfeiting' excuse really just gave an excuse to be able to track every single piece of paper back to you... the printer owner. But it's the tip of the iceberg and if you don't want anyone knowing who put the "Leave my Sammich Alone Karen" note in the office fridge... you can fix it. They'll just find you another way, though.
There are some excellent web sites dedicated to OpSec.
Cheers,
Sirhr
P.S. Anyone ever go to Def-Con? They had a game called "Spot the Fed?" It was the highlight of the early Def-Con conventions c. 1994 - 2000. Be fun to see one now.
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