User:Pedro Sá Couto/MIC: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
=First Working Prototype= | =First Working Prototype= | ||
[[File:micoder2.png|900px|]] | [[File:micoder2.png|900px|]] | ||
Revision as of 15:20, 4 December 2019
Machine Identification Code
What is the Machine Identification Code
The Machine Identification Code is appended to every printed page. When printing, a pattern of dots is added. These are almost imperceptible yellow dots carrying information as the date of print, time and the serial number of the machine. This made me rethink what did it mean to publish in print, how safe is it, and how it might affect the ones who depend on printed forms of publishing.
- AN ANONYMISATION APPROACH
- Tracking dots on a sheet reveal information about the printer and are therefore a lack of privacy. Tracking dots information have no controlled access and can theoretically be read and decoded by anyone. It is possible to conclude the printer of a sheet which is often owned by the author. This would be a disaster e.g. in case the sheet is a critical leaflet about the government in a dictatorship. For this reason, we introduce methods for removing tracking data from scanned prints and for masking tracking data on prints. Each anonymisation method was successfully tested using our dedatoolkit.
- Richter, T., Escher, S., Schönfeld, D., et al. (2018) Forensic Analysis and Anonymisation of Printed Documents. In 14 June 2018. pp. 127–138. doi:10.1145/3206004.3206019.
Understanding if they are real
I was not able to identify them personally even though they appear to be a reality. There are numerous people apparently spotting them and online there is a lot of discussion about them. I tested methods to identify with UV light, with different printers, from HP to Canon, from Inkjet to Lasers printers. I scanned the pages with 1200 dpi, inverted and follow almost every tutorial I found available online.
This is not to say they don't exist but is a disclaimer that I was not able to come across them.