Hard times are coming to those who like to abuse copy machines, soon they’ll have to look for workaround. And all because Canon Japan together with Hitachi introduces a new security system for office printers based on biometric human parameters. Simply put, now to scan or print a document, you will need to confirm you identity with a fingerprint.

The creators claim that the technology isneeded to patch the vulnerabilities that are characteristic for access with password or magnetic cards. Indeed, a sheet of paper with a password scribbled on it or a card may be dropped anywhere, but you can hardly leave your thumb on the table.

The company is planning to introduce the technology into operation on the basis of Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE line of multifunction printers. Estimated cost of the devices is about $1460. Protected printers will be available on the Japanese market any day. Perhaps, the technology will find its place in other markets, in addition to printer access security.

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.”

You may know that DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) prohibits your downloading and sharing any copyrighted material – pirated movies, music, book, TV shows, etc. If your computer IP is detected to take part in such activity, your ISP will receive a DMCA takedown notice – a formal message to report infringing content. The ISP will, in turn, warn your or whoever is know to be associated with detected IP to stop illegal activities. Briefly, this is how copyrights holders protect their intellectual property.

What does it have to do with printers, you may ask?

I’ll tell you what. Some guys (two teacher and a student namely) from University of Washington examined BitTorrent file-sharing networks using specially designed BitTorrent clients to monitor the traffic on these networks. They didn’t actually upload or download any files, but somehow the researchers received over 400 takedown requests. Each of those notices was a false positive accusing them of copyright infringement. The results of the study show that virtually any Internet user has a risk of receiving the DMCA takedown notice.

It still has nothing to do with printers, you may remark.

Yes, but we are almost there. The researchers say in the study that of all the numerous takedown notices they received, 13 were issued for 3 laser printers and a wireless access point. Interesting, right?

The results of the study make it clear that being an advanced user you can make your printer download movies for you and come out clean. On the other hand, the study shows how inconclusive is the method used to identify infringing BitTorrent users.

So if your ISP forwards you a takedown notice, cast the blame on your printer.

Epson has announced an extreme solution to the problem of users who print sensitive documents to network queues but then forget to pick them up — a printer that requires a smartcard before it will print.

Documents to be printed using the EpsonNet Authentication Print system are first stored on a server much as they would be with any network print queue. But where a conventional print queue simply spools the documents in the correct driver format, the Epson system holds them on the server until a user causes the job to be printed by presenting one of a number of types of access cards; contactless or proximity smartcards are supported.

According to Epson, the technology should interest companies in a range of sectors such as banking, healthcare, education, hotels and, inevitably, the military, basically anyone who has cause to worry about the undisciplined use of laser printers.

The kit comprises an interface card, which slots into the printer itself, a contactless card reader and 10 swipe cards, and requires server management software. Epson models supported include the EPL-N2550, EPL-N3000, Aculaser 2600, Aculaser C2600, Aculaser C3800, Aculaser C4200, and Aculaser C9100.

Assuming that companies can face the hassle of managing yet another piece of insecure hardware — the smartcards — this system could have some advantages. The issue it addresses is certainly on the rise for all sorts of reasons, including regulatory compliance.

The system is relatively expensive on a per-printer basis — each printer kit costs £567 ($1114) — but it is likely that an organization would only need a small number of printers to be secured per site. The EpsonNet Authentication Server software costs £707.