Previously we reported the discovery of yellow dots made by color laser printers and the reaction of European Union Committee on this issue.

A study done by Electronic Frontier Foundation finds that most color laser printers add an identifying code on every page you print. This code is actually microscopic yellow dots printed on each page in a grid pattern. Normally these dots are invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen using a blue LED light.

The information in the yellow dots varies, some have just the serial number of the printer and others also have the date printed. On the picture below you can see the date and time when page was printed and the serial number of the printer.

Originally the technology was implemented to help secret services track and find counterfeiter who use color laser printers to forge money or securities. But now that color laser printers are becoming more affordable and more user gets them home, these tracking dots are making privacy advocates worry.

“There’s nothing about this technology that limits its application to counterfeit investigations,” stated Seth Schoen with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Some people who aren’t doing anything wrong may have their privacy threatened.”

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Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), “the office equipment industry’s leading independent authority and provider of competitive intelligence, testing and reviews on multifunction (MFP), copier, printer and fax products”. BLI semi-annually present its “Pick” award to the products that perform the best in their respective categories throughout BLI’s in-depth lab test.

During the test, BLI evaluates all critical performance areas, including reliability, image quality, productivity, print drivers, feedback to workstations, administrative utilities, ease of use, network setup, toner yield, cost of ownership and more.

HP Selected in Three Color Printer Categories

The HP Color LaserJet CP6015dn received a BLI “Pick” award in the large workgroup color printer category, while the multifunction printer based on the same engine, the Color LaserJet CM6040f, was recognized in the printer MFP category. “The CP6015dn and the CM6040f offer users dark text, smooth lines and good color output at a competitive price,” said BLI Senior Test Technician Tony Maceri. “And with HP’s standard security features and extensive color access controls, business users have multiple options to control the output devices on their networks.”

Meanwhile, Oce, a global leader in digital document management and delivery solutions was recently awarded four Spring 2008 “Pick of the Year” awards from BLI, too.

Three Oce color devices, the Oce cm4521, Oce cm5520 and Oce cm6520, won “Outstanding Segment 4 Business Color MFP” Pick of the Year awards; the Oce im4512 achieved the “Outstanding Segment 4 Monochrome MFP” Pick of the Year award. “We are honored to receive the level of prestige given to our devices by being awarded these ‘Picks’,” said Tom O’Neill, Director Product Marketing, Oce North America, Document Printing Systems. “BLI’s testing criteria and opinions are highly respected and winning these Segment 4 awards really shows our devices are in a class of their own.”

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