New Technique Could Trace Documents By Printer

An anonymous reader submits "From this article at Purdue News, 'Researchers at Purdue University have developed a method that will enable authorities to trace documents to specific printers, a technique law-enforcement agencies could use to investigate counterfeiting, forgeries and homeland security matters.' The neat thing is that they are exploiting the characteristics of the print process itself to identify the printer." <update> One of the folks e-mailed me to say that the HP LaserJet 9000dn was one of the big ones tested with.

Comments

A Choice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Kerry was asked by the moderator if homosexuality is a
choice.

What was the moderator really getting at? I know getting manicures,
using bronzing lotion, having a running mate prettier than your wife
and wearing lipstick certainly ARE choices. Was the real reason the
moderator asked this to point out that Kerry is more feminine than Dick
Cheney's daughter?

Shut up.

[Anonymous Coward]

You fucking liberals and your bullshit. You have been caught RED FUCKING HANDED making up shit and now you expect us to beleive anything else your lying, bullshitting mouths might say? And people wonder why liberals are considered terrorist supporters and lower than the French.

Protect America. Bush Cheney 2004.

Re:Tracking Printer Heads and Toner Drums

[Doesn't_Comment_Code]

The problem here is many of the peices they would use to track the printers are integral parts of the replacable toner cartridges and printer ink kits. Only printers that have perm drums and heads will be easily traceable.

Not only that, but they would have to have a library of characteristics to match against. They can't match you to your fingerprint unless it's on file. And they can't match your document to your printer unless your printer's "fingerprint" is on file. They can keep fingerprints on file because they don't change. It would be next to impossible to keep a current database of printers. You would definitely have to have a suspect in mind before matching a document to a printer.

The best use of this is to match to documents to the same printer - as when two bomb threats go to different buildings. Are they related? Well, they came from the same printer, so Yes.