Laser Audit Trails

If you thought the days of being able to trace a document back to the typewriter that had produced it are long gone, think again. It seems that the feds have been secretly making laser printer, fax, and copier manufacturers embed the unit's serial number or other ID on all the documents you produce. According to PC World magazine, if you shine a blue LED on a printed page and use a big enough magnifying glass, you will see this information in 1mm sized yellow dots printed about every inch on the page. Xerox has admitted that they've been doing this for 20 years!