[callumprentice]

I printed a page of text and then scanned it back in. I spent quite some time messing around with the resulting image and couldn't see any dots. My printer is an almost new, Canon color laser so I would've expected it to be spying on me.

Is there some software or a web site that will scan an image and decode the dots?

[xkeysc0re]

Hey, author of TFA here. Try inverting the color and upping the blue, you might see the patterns. Here's a scan I did from a magazine https://i.imgur.com/x1TXa30.png

It's also possible they are using a different technique. As I mentioned towards the end of the article, the dots have been around for a while and some vendors are apparently looking into other methods

[rkagerer]

On what grounds do they argue we still need this? I thought money generally has enough safeguards these days that consumer color printers are no longer a threat.

[joshspankit]

Once privacy has been pushed aside in exchange for juicy tracking data, it rarely (if ever) gets returned. That’s no matter the initial reason.

[xkeysc0re]

I am not a printer company executive nor an employee of a federal agency (I swear!), so I couldn't tell you precisely the logic behind it. My venture is that while it's true there are lots of physical safeguards to prevent the spread of counterfeits, these dots and other stenographic techniques can be used in investigations to trace the source. If you know what printer was used and what serial it has, you could theoretically track it through the vendor's supply chains.

I also believe that international trade agreements and banking regulations, such as the Japanese measures mentioned in the article, require dots and similar methods even if they have perhaps technically been superseded.

[callumprentice]

Thank you so much. I’ll give this a try when I get home. Much appreciated.