Purdue Sensor and Printer Forensics

I don't like to admit this, but on the way home today I was listening to NPR. Personally I don't care for the station, but sometimes its the only station that has talk radio. I can rant about why I don't like NPR for hours, but I want to get to the subject at hand.

Once in a while, the program 'All Things Considered' covers an interesting story. This time they had a story about ink watermarks embedded into a document when you print it. This watermark is used identify the printer or copier that it came from.

Synopsis: "Robert Siegel talks with Purdue University Professor Edward Delp, one of a team who devised a way to watermark pages from copiers and printers. This technology allows for the tracing of documents to specific printers or to a certain model of printer."

This technology is designed to stop counterfeiters which is good, but this still doesn't take away from the privacy implications it has.

"Ultimately, as technology increases, privacy decreases." - me.

More Resources:

• Purdue Sensor and Printer Forensics (PSAPF) - Project Overview
• EFF probes printer watermarks