Ravenwood - 11/23/04 05:00 PM
Okay, so some printer manufacturers have been caught encoding fingerprints and other unique identifiers into their products. And yes, those printed pages could ultimately be tracked back to you.
Still, I'm not going to get too upset over this. After all, it only affects a small percentage of printers. Most printer owners don't have have color laser printers, and they aren't used for regular printing anyway. Sure, the First Amendment allows for printing and whatnot, but the Founding Fathers never could have envisioned technology like this. These hi-capacity printers are capable of indiscriminately spraying out sheets at more than 10 pages per minute. And they are so simple to use with just one click of the mouse.
With all the fears about counterfeiting and identity theft, I think that only agents of the government can be trusted with such dangerous technology. At a bare minimum, we should have some common sense printer control, including some sort of registration scheme.
I honestly think - and I am not an expert on the amendments - I think the only people in this nation who should be allowed to own these high quality laser printers are government agencies like the IRS. I don't care if you want to print in color, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say, 'Sorry. It is 2004, we have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a color laser printer and if you do own one, I think you should go to prison.'
You know, the worst thing is that these kinds of printers could be used to do things like spread the identity of undercover policmen, without the author being accountable. This is a clear threat to the public welfare. How can the police protect us if the bad guys know who they are?
But you're probably going too far in calling for a complete ban. Ordinary citizens should be able to get limited versions--say, printers where each sheet must be fed in by hand, or sheet size is restricted to 6 x 8-1/2, or only two colors besides black are used(although certainly the user should be able to select which two).
Also, under the current system, a user could buy a printer with cash, rendering the purchase untraceable.
You do mention registration, but perhaps you have not gone far enough there.
Clearly, we should simply require that purchasers be required to undergo some kind of quick background check for a past history of, say, counterfeiting, or printing up seditious handbills, and then, as you say, register the purchase.
Now, it will be easy to see to it that these rules apply to licensed dealers (and certainly some kind of bureau should be set up to monitor this sort of thing.)
But we need to make sure that these measures apply to all purchases, such as garage sales and swap meets. We should make sure that no tradition of a "computer show loophole" gets established.
Thanks for bringing this very serious problem to our attention. Why, once the word gets out, I bet it would be easy to find at least a million IT managers to sign petitions, maybe have some kind of march on Washington, I don't know, to see these laws swiftly enacted.
Posted by: refugee at November 23, 2004 5:24 PMLet's take this a step further. The government obviously needs to track people who make bulk purchases of paper and pencils. There is no good reason for an honest citizen to buy more than one pen a month. Anything more than that, and they're up to something.
Oh ... and anyone know which printer makers insert this signature technology into their machines? I need to know which ones to never buy. Out of principle, of course.
Posted by: The Peoria Pundit at November 24, 2004 4:42 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
