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Canon Blocks Copy Jobs Using Banned Keywords
aesoteric notes that a future version of Canon's document management system will include the exciting breakthrough technology that will OCR your printed and scanned documents, and
prevent distribution of keywords. Documents containing the offending words can be sent to the administrator, without actually telling the user just what word tripped the alarm. The article notes that simply using 1337 for example will get around it.
How long until making photocopies of your butt becomes a thing of the past?
I guess they thought, "Well, it is no worse than IBM selling equipment to the Germans during World War II!"
Palm trees and 8
It will be interesting to see when businesses wont be able to fax, or deal with clients whose names contains those banned words because of this technology. Once again 3 steps forward, 2 back...
Canon sucks
FTA: "a prohibited keyword, such as a client name or project codename."
Sounds more like a security tool than a censorship tool. (Yes, it could be used for cens
All a publisher would have to do is to embed a code or passphrase or optical pattern on the pages of their copyrighted publication and then arrange with manufacturers such as Canon or Xerox not to duplicate those pages. The pattern could be a watermark in the background of the content, defeating attempts to obscure it with a post-it not or some such.
I predict a huge demand for older, dumber photocopiers.
I can see the fnords!
This was under the category of "Your Rights Online", but this isn't about our rights unless our governments mandate that all citizens must use copiers with this capability and the capability is deployed. In more realistic terms, companies are perfectly within reason to deploy this technology and it's a good thing. This would be a big plus for HR, legal, R&D, corportate planning. A great deal of information in the business world is compromised via copy machines. This doesn't solve the problem, but it certainly will impact and interrupt the problem in certain circumstances.
What I do worry about is how deployment impacts copyright enforcement, we shall see. I'm all for copyright enforcement, but not for infringing upon fair-use.
Now another way i will be able to mess with my coworkers! Not that messing with the mouse settings and putting up gay pictures on backgrounds isn't already fun enough!
You're doing it wrong. If there's anything I've learned in dealing with people, it is never try to create a technical solution to a social problem. If someone wants to make a copy of some secret document, they will quickly learn that the copiers have this software installed and will use a different machine. You need to figure out why they would want to make copies of something you don't want them to, and solve that problem. I could see this being marginally useful for preventing accidental release of information, however the article seems to state that they are trying to stop deliberate users.
A determined user who has guessed the prohibited keyword could get around it by simply substituting numbers or other characters for letters, such as z00 instead of zoo, representatives for Canon conceded.
Sewage Treatment Facilities - "Our duty is clear."
I imagine the first terms to be added could be something like "Company Confidential, Do Not Copy" or "Sensitive Business Information".
That said, copiers already block copying of certain patterns, such as US currency. With a little trial and error it's not hard to figure out exactly what on the dollar bill is being matched. Just add it to your documents, and no body will even be able to print them. (Careful, as some brands of printers will lock themselves and require a service call after you try to copy money.)
"The system can optionally inform the user by email that their attempt has been blocked, but without identifying the keyword in question, maintaining the security of the system."
Until the user decides to compare his blocked page with blocked pages from other letters or does a binary search for the forbidden word. Glad they thought this through.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
From TFA: "The latest version of Uniflow has a keyword-based security system. Once configured by an administrator, the system can prevent a user from attempting to print, scan, copy or fax a document containing a prohibited keyword, such as a client name or project codename."
So its not some Canon thing where they think some words shouldnt be used. You know, dirty words like Bottom or Crevice.
The internal admin can set the words. Its like a silent alarm really. No different to a corporate spam filter with words added to a blacklist by an admin.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
why have a easy DOS attack build in all it takes is for some to try to copy some money and you can shut down a full center real fast.
Why is Canon working so hard to help China be safe from words like freedom, democracy and truth? Oppression pays.
why not automatically add "z00" to the word list when "zoo" is added?
Egads! I hope that doesn't happen. I don't hold anything against the man, but that's precisely the point. Now, if I worked one department over, for that lovely 30-something woman, I wouldn't mind so much. :D
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
what happens if you unplug the LAN cord?
Just use CAPTCHAs for any banned words, phrases, or other banned content.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
... is the fact that standalone scanners are three to four times the price of all-in-one printers, and then the printers won't actually scan a document whenever a single cartridge happens to be out of ink.
10,000 quatloos to the first printer virus that propagates from printer to printer on the network and whose only other effect is to replace the word "strategic" with the word "satanic" in any printed output!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Please don't treat it as such.
This has nothing to do with the FCC. I think this is a terrible idea too, but this is not the FCC doing anything. This is bad because it opens the door for all sorts of abuses, not because the abuses have happened yet.
Palm trees and 8
Joke's on you, Canon! I print out all my important documents in Wingdings...
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-hacker
better not be on that list.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
How to abuse this system (and possibly get fired)
Step 1: Find some known banned words that are not easily noticed
Step 2: Get access to coworker's Microsoft Word.
Step 3: Set Auto-correct to change similar spelled words to these banned words.
Step 4: Don't get caught.
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
print a page with the title "Top Secret Document"... and have the rest be screenshot of a shock site.
and I remembered my password?? hell yeah.
what would be funny is if you can't copy documents about weaponry... and then canon can't copy it's own documentation.
well ok that wouldn't be funny. but I did remember my fuckign psasdrowd!
-pyrrho
Censorship == bad but...
If you have access to one of these machines at work and you can't copy something, maybe there's a good reason for it. If it's hindering your job, go up the chain (painful perhaps but such is life). If you're doing it for personal reasons, maybe you should go to a copy shop.
If you're the nefarious type, photograph the pages and print them elsewhere.
If you own the copier, you control the keywords.
I'm looking at this from the employer perspective. I'm purposely not looking at the copyrighted work angle. Though I have to say this doesn't seem to be aimed at that. Doesn't seem like a huge YRO issue though. But maybe someone can come up with some alternate arguments.
This has nothing to do with foul language and everything to do with people walking out the door with account numbers, medical records, credit card info, social security numbers and other valuable private information.
This is not a privacy issue; there is little expectation of privacy in a workplace when using company property anyway. I personally feel this would be a nice help; imagine working for a government contractor and having having software automatically raise flags when someone copies documents with "DO NOT COPY" or "CONFIDENTIAL" in the OCR text. This is somewhat useful.
Oh shit, so now regular people are going to start writing like spammers to avoid filters.
Great! Now how am I going to tell spam from valid emails? Thanks a lot Canon!
1337 huh?
looks they're be a huge demand for 1337157 @[]\D71575
and or other ways to write words while using characters that are more apt to represent alterior sillabances
And yet none of the technology to implement this is ground breaking or terribly new, and its just integrating a couple things. It's just another feature on the datasheet that any programmer given a decent OCR system (something anybody could buy for years, let alone Canon) and an OS capable of sending email could implement in a few minutes.
I expect the general population to be wowed by this magic.
I also like how this becomes Evil once a large company decides to put a price on it and make whoever wants it pay for it.
I must have a different understanding of this context unless by "exciting breakthrough" they mean "censorship breakthrough", then I get it.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
So what are canon blocks, and why are they copying Jobs?
Just another brick in the wall.
-FL
So the days of mooning a copier are over. Goatse will probably trigger a 911 call.
Table-ized A.I.
Canon Blocks Copy Jobs Using Banned Keywords
If the keywords are banned, how can you use them to do any copy blocking?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I imagine the first terms to be added could be something like "Company Confidential, Do Not Copy" or "Sensitive Business Information".
Just tell Canon what they are...
The Human Resource Director goes to photocopy the new Employee Handbook, which contains this entry:
"No computer, physical mailings or any other media shall contain or promote pornography (including but not limited to child pornography and bestiality). Any violation of this policy will be dealt with severely and quickly, and could result in termination."
The copy job is denied and simply goes away. The Director doesn't know why her job didn't complete so she tries it again, and again a 3rd time before moving on to a different copier.
The Network Administrator receives this email message, pre-marked as high priority:
"ATTENTION ADMINISTRATOR: IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!
User 'HR Dir' is a sadomasochistic, highly active and prolific peddler of child, farm animal and pet pornography as well as snuff films, and publicly declares their issues with premature ejaculation and poor sexual performance. CLICK HERE to notify your local law enforcement agencies."
censorship at the printer level, now no more pesky documents containing banned words. Russia, China, Iran, etc will love this.
will be some of the first 'banned words', I bet. Only in Chinese, not English.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
You'd think that this feature would be well-received by the government for catching accidental copying of classified materials, right? After all, document marking requirements require the classification level (Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret, at least) to be marked at the top and bottom of the page, and preferably in both locations. So just set it to look for those words and all is well, right?
Bullshit.
The cover page is often marked with those very same words, in color no less. But the cover page is usually unclassified, as it will say in small print somewhere. So, whoops, false alarm.
And if the page you copied really did have classified information? IIRC, that means shutting down the copier, tearing out the hard drive, fuser, and image-transfer drums (anything which could have "residual data"; if in doubt, assume the bad guys have Hollywood and/or "CSI" level equipment to recover data), and feeding all of it to a glorified wood chipper.
God forbid that the copier actually email even a partial scan of the offending document to the sysadmin. That would mean the sysadmin's drive, as well as the mail server's, go into the chipper, too. At least they don't require us to hunt down the network switches that the packets passed through and go Office Space on them.
Security personnel are not chosen for their understanding of technology. They're chosen for their adherence to, well, federal laws. For example, it's such fun explaining to someone why my Mac and/or Linux box does *not* need to be configured to require CTRL+ALT+DEL prior to login, as is required for Windows PCs.
You learn *fast* that the "don't classify something you don't have to" rule is there for *your* sanity.
cool 1337 is my UID # i was assigned here on slashdot!
locked out of this slashdot account for 10+ years... Im back
This has nothing to do with foul language and everything to do with people walking out the door with account numbers, medical records, credit card info, social security numbers and other valuable private information.
Yes, this is true.
Although I don't know why this is "Breaking News" considering it has been offered on Xerox products for over 3 years.
And I should know, we sell this stuff to government departments purely based on the security we can offer them.
It might be easy to hand write the details off the screen for circumvention, but that is only going to net you a small data set. These systems are designend to stop people walking off with entire client databases and that type of thing. In the governemnt, it's more about keyword 'flagging' that sends the MIB to your desk on very short notice.
Dan. -- So what if it's spelt wrong, nobody's perfect
This has nothing to do with the FCC. I think this is a terrible idea too, but this is not the FCC doing anything. This is bad because it opens the door for all sorts of abuses, not because the abuses have happened yet.
It is the same thing. Both stem from societal pressures from immature adults who cannot deal with people using certain words.
A mature adult should be able to tolerate some inappropriate language.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
A mature adult should be able to tolerate some inappropriate language.
"Of course, of course," said Dr. Hardrum, "but my dear lady, what about the children?"
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
What if you copy at an angle? Can it still OCR that?
I come here for the love
Samizdat
Pfah, any spy worth his salt uses a camera. No traces, no helpful copier logs, no meddlesome Canon OCR gadgetry.
That out of the way it seems clear this trickery is not so much aimed at blocking espionage - which it won't - but more at keeping you from copying your course books. And that, dear reader, is why I keep my trusty HP 5200C in its cozy box up on the attic, ready to scan that what is deemed improper by the powers that be at my whim. It also helps that the thing is nigh indestructible and will probably outlive my machines with the required USB1 connectors.
--frank[at]unternet.org
Then why wouldn't you put it all on a USB, walk down to the local officeworks (or head home), and print it all there?
Sure, that might work if the information is in paper-format to begin with, but for electronic data, why not steal it electronically?
That sure would make it a very appealing target for industrial espionage.
"What was on that disk, Bob?"
"Just some random words! 'Korea' 'Supply' 'Refining technology' 'Nuclear' 'Weapons' and some other things about presidents and sexual favours from secretaries."
"Hmmm..."
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
You don't want China to know this.
So what. Libraries should filter internet access, to protect themselves. So should companies not protect themselves to?
I'd be pretty annoyed if someone was using the internet or printer for their own use. Its their kit, they can do what they want with it.
Paranoid, very paranoid.
"The article notes that simply using 1337 for example will get around it."
That'll work well.
"To all staff: this is to inform you that your boss has been 1337ing you in the ass, and 1337ing all the credit for your hard work. Please see http://1337/ for the evidence.
Yours faithfully,
Your 1337 Union Representative"
Or, maybe, there's no reason for it. Or, even, a bad reason for it.
E.g. your page is blocked from copying because you're photocopying a letter from someone is Cockfosters. No reason for it.
Or, your page is blocked because it's evidence of your boss committing a crime. There's a reason for it: your boss is a criminal and doesn't want to get caught. So the reason is a bad one.
Wasn't the russian communist system decried for blocking words and having you spied on? Why is it horrible for a foreign government to do that to OTHER PEOPLE, but fine for a company you work for to do it TO YOU? Is the problem that you WANT to get buttfucked and get pissy when you are left out of the rim-enlargement experience?
While I'm not disagreeing that some whiners will attempt a lawsuit, it's just amazing that such are entertained at all.
Specified personnel get notified when a user attempts to copy something marked "Confidential-Not to be copied"? Cry me a river of privacy-emitting penumbras.
The feature is not going to be activated when people copy their boring love letters written in cursive, but why are they bringing those to work, anyway?
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
This is more about printers, mostly colour printers I believe, but it is a related technology as far as I know.
About EURion constellation and bank notes:
This might work better and will be working more efficiently towards our environment:
I want to bet, that company will be having a very ergonomic usage of paper.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
A mature adult should be able to tolerate some inappropriate language.
"Of course, of course," said Dr. Hardrum, "but my dear lady, what about the children?"
It is up to the parents of the child to raise that child, not other corporations, the FCC or any other government agency unless if they are wards of the state.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
A mature adult should be able to tolerate some inappropriate language.
"Of course, of course," said Dr. Hardrum, "but my dear lady, what about the children?"
It is up to the parents of the child to raise that child, not other corporations, the FCC or any other government agency unless if they are wards of the state.
I'm sorry, I should have been less cryptic. I agree with you, I was just pointing out the tired old excuse of Thinking of the Children.
I think people who ring that bell may be trying to protect their own childish insecurities, but I don't think there's a short-term way to drag them kicking and/or screaming into adulthood.
I like to believe that newer generations are less prone to the echo chamber, as technology allows for easier access to pluralism - but that may just be my own naive idealism.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
If it can email it to your supervisor, it can send things other places as well. I hadn't thought about this aspect of it before, but the Xerox copiers in my office will scan to an email & do ocr if requested. It is likely perfectly capable of being programmed to do exactly this already, just take a minor upgrade of the software. This is assuming it isn't already doing this.