crunchysteve

In a recent post about postering campaigns, somebody pointed out that most printers and copiers have "spook dots" that are barely detectable device ID, date and time data, embedded in their output. I was surprised by this and its sent me down a weeks long rabbit hole in my spare moments. According to the wikis, Xerox invented this tech in the 80s. Those random, light imperfections in your photocopies and faxes back then may have included "machine id dots." Crims everywhere were probably going, "but how did they nab us? !"

While down that lesser boredom avoidant rabbit hole, I recently found this, a Python script that can anonymise your printer and spoof the dots. For every spyware, there's a "spywon't", and, like the fable of old, the "ultimate defence against the ultimate weapon" is a race to the bottom, ending in either the toppling of a dictator or the death of a mage...

https://github.com/dfd-tud/deda

Use it lawfully and wisely. It's a bastard steep learning curve, though. Not for the tech feint-of-heart, I'm afraid.