In my country whistleblowers are slaugthered. Now I am not a whistleblower in the real sense but I like do my best. We have got evidences, excel sheets/bank statements/notarised papers/photos etc., of a local mp (known as a mla in some countries). Here is the main issue, all the info is in his personal computer in his office and somehow that computer is connected (via networking I suppose) to the other computers in his office. His office has 4 computers, each computer has its own monochrome laser printer and a hp deskjet 2331 printer. Due to security reasons the guys who have access to the computer room cannot take their devices in, phones/drives etc., but noone checks the print outs that they take with them as they usually do that because the mp/mla is involved in consultancy and real estate businesses also. They take out like hundreds of prints per day.
Coming to the point, we want to submit all the evidences to the AG's office and to the other anti corruption wacthdogs but the guy who works there is not willing to mail or upload everything on a cloud because he fears that the IT team might come to know about it. Now we don't want him to be tracked using Machine Indetifier code or Tracking dots en.wikipedia.org/... Whistleblowers have been caught using this www.rollingstone.com/...
Few questions-
- Do monochrome laser printers (I know they can't but need to confirm) and colored inkjet/deskjet (are these both the same?) printers leave these tracking dots and mic? or is this issue only with colored laser printers?
- Say colored prints are taken from this hp deskjet printer and then the same page is copied, which will be basically scan and copy then will the dots be there? It will take 2x the time and cartridges though.
- What if the prints are taken on a yellow/yellowish paper, will the tracking dots and mic be identified then?
- Is there any way to disable the tracking dots and mic being printed? I could only find this option github.com/... but the guy who works there won't be able to install this on the system.
- Say we tell him to take any random print from that printer, then is there any way to check at home whether this printer actually leaves dots or mic behind? Without buying an expensive microscope or scanner?
- If the image printing quality is decreased or kept at normal level then will it still leave the dots and mic behind?
Of the little what is mentioned on the internet, printer oem's keep on changing the positing of these dots and mic. Some articles say that they only decipher it when Uncle Sam requests it or when there is a national security threat, both will not be the case here but a corrupt politician with unlimited power and money you never know so asking this. This is a good read too but the list is not updated www.eff.org/...
Thanks
@budze
Tagging Ronny too @budze
