It’s been common knowledge for a while that several major printer vendors engineer their color laser printers to embed tiny yellow dots into the printed documents to make it possible to track the origins of the document. This was done in cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service for the ostensible purpose of tracking down counterfeiters who use the printers to make their own currency. Last month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was able to crack the code for Xerox DocuColor printers. Their researchers discovered that printers made by Xerox imprint the serial number of the printer and the date and time the document was printed.

Xerox isn’t the only vendor using the technology; it’s just the only one for which the code has been cracked. Other printer brands that embed identifying information include Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, Lexmark and others. Wondering if your color laser is telling the world (or at least, the U.S.S.S.) where and when your documents were printed? Here’s a list of some of the brands and models that do:

http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=051108ED-Printers