The Electronic Frontier Foundation has uncovered a previously unknown code that laser printers imprint on documents which allow law enforcement entities to determine the serial number associated with the printer from whence the paper originated as well as the date and time of printing.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

Read the EFF release.

See the list of printers investigated thus far and if they do or don't print decodable tracking dots.

The Philoneist Says: Are you printing anything that the US government will want to invest resources in tracking down the road? I'm assuming no. For the purpose of tracking persons and data under just cause for criminal suspicion, the applicative benefits of this technology outweigh privacy abuse concerns.