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We're going to wake up one day soon and discover that nobody makes printers any more that don't snitch on your activities to the Secret Police (b/c the public internet is dead, the olgarch social media is in the pocket of the aforementioned SP, and samizdat is … well, if your printer OCR's and emails it to the authorities that's you doing 10-20 years for "encouraging terrorism", innit).

Prolly time to buy a second-hand 1980s dot-matrix and a ribbon re-inking kit.
infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/1

Infosec ExchangeBrianKrebs (@briankrebs@infosec.exchange)Attached: 1 image Oh how far you've fallen, Wirecutter. Recommending HP printers? Nuh uh. They all make you want to pull your hair out, but for my money Brother sucks way less. Unless you absolutely need photo quality printouts or something. I think even Brother put something on their newer models that doesn't let you use third-party toner cartridges unless they have a special chip on them. But when I think of HP, I think of bloat, and proprietary bloat. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-laser-printer/

@cstross It's also important that people know that most printers print a code on their output that traces the printout back to that specific printer. It's usually in pale, unobtrusive yellow dots. (This is why your printer wants you to replace the colour cartridge even if you're just trying to print in black.) Created ostensibly to trace printers being used to counterfeit currency.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_

en.wikipedia.orgPrinter tracking dots - Wikipedia

@beecycling That's why I'm recommending a 1980s dot matrix, from before watermarking of inkjet and laser printer output with the Constellation EUrion became A Thing.

@cstross Definitely. Just wanted to mention the printer dots too, because most people don't know about them, and think that something printed out and distributed on paper can't be traced back to or linked to them. It absolutely can.

Feòrag

@beecycling Someone I know, who will remain nameless unless they choose to reveal themselves, had programmed their Postscript printer to print the yellow dot pattern specific to Euro banknotes on all their correspondence with the authorities.