We've known for years that color laser printers can embed a series of tiny yellow dots on pages they print. The dots—almost invisible under normal circumstances—can be used to determine which particular printer produced the image. Essentially, each printer outputs its own serial number. This is great for busting counterfeiters but raises all sorts of privacy concerns. Now, MIT students are getting involved in the campaign against the dots with the new Seeing Yellow project.

At Ars Technica.

[ Read more ]