7 ms·
> My printer does not print tracking dots. Can I hide this fact? > If there are really no tracking dots, you can either create your own ones (deda_create_dots)
by twalkz 1y ago
> My printer does not print tracking dots. Can I hide this fact?
> If there are really no tracking dots, you can either create your own ones (deda_create_dots) or print the calibration page (deda_anonmask_create -w) with another printer and use the mask for your own printer
The thought of being able to “spoof” the tracking dots of another printer has interesting implications for deniability. Though I guess in this case you’d still need access to the original printer to print the anonmask…
- decimalenough 1y agoPer Wikipedia, the dots' "arrangement encodes the serial number of the device, date and time of the printing", so all you really need to spoof somebody else's printer is the serial number. Which can likely these days even be accessed remotely through printer settings.
- CobrastanJorji 1y agoNo need to examine the printer. Just find a sheet of paper that printer printed, decode the dots, and then print your super illegal whatever with their printer's dots and a timestamp that makes sense for whatever you're framing them for doing. Nobody's ever gonna believe "the dots were a lie." They sound too much like fingerprints.
- dylan604 1y agoOr just go to a big box retailer, grab a couple of serial numbers off of the packaging, and then randomize per page.
- banku_brougham 1y agoWhy is the randomizing step needed?
- dylan604 1y agojust to throw of the scent. why do people bounce around TOR nodes?
- Brian_K_White 1y agowhy randomize a mac address? If everything you print has the same fictitious serial number, it's still a stable identifier that can be triangulated.
- banku_brougham 1y agoGot it. Then why the first step of go to the effort of getting real serial numbers from the big box store. If the dots signature going to be randomized?
- Brian_K_White 1y agoMaybe just to get the vaild format.
- thfuran 1y agoBetter than nothing, but you probably don't want to produce a document that purports to have been printed by three different printers that were likely only in the same place during a relatively short period surrounding when you went to see them. You'd be better off just making up serial numbers.
- CobrastanJorji 1y agoNah, it's even better. "These messages were printed on a variety of different printers on three separate dates, but all of the printers were in an Office Depot during that time. Now we just need to go through the footage of those days to see who was in that store on all three days." Meanwhile, you're in another state on those days, doing crime.
- dylan604 1y agoOr post a thread on r/inkjetssuck or some such, and just have people from all over the world go into the big box stores to get serials to post as a reply
- Terr_ 1y ago> on all three Except if you can manipulate the timestamps, then they aren't relevant anymore, so the search space is much bigger than the intersection of each set of days. It's the intersection of all the people who visited each printer at least once any time.
- CobrastanJorji 1y agoYeah, but the police (and then the prosecutors if they find someone who matches) are operating under the theory that the tracking dots are correct. They really want the dots to be correct. They don't want the dots to be wrong. This is why nonsense like "fiber matching" lasted so long: the people prosecuting the crimes want it to be right so badly that they're practically on your team.
- anigbrowl 1y agoAssumes single page documents
- timewizard 1y agoIt depends on how it gets the serial number. If it reads it from internal memory then spoofing your own serial number on each document print is the obvious workaround.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 1y agoOnce you are at the level of forensic investigations that go down to the tracking dots, most attempts at spoofing anything will be relatively obvious and provide further evidence that narrows down the list of suspects to those aware of such techniques. You might fool someone who does such analysis casually but I'd expect an actual experienced investigator to e.g. go "the tracking dots are clearly brand X, but the raster used for greyscale is obviously from Y, soooo"
- thinkingemote 1y agoHave these dots been used as evidence in a court?
- UncleEntity 1y agoThey've been used to figure out who leaked government documents in a few cases IIRC.