Printers Let Big Brother Connect Privacy Dots

The growing popularity of laser printers has privacy watchdogs worried, USA Today reports. Many such printers have a feature, designed to foil currency counterfeiters, that puts a signature of microscopic dots on each page. In the US, only the Secret Service can decode the information, but there are concerns the feature could be used to track down dissidents and whistleblowers.

"There's nothing about this technology that limits its application to counterfeit investigations," said a rep for an electronic privacy group. "Some people who aren't doing anything wrong may have their privacy threatened." (More computer hardware stories.)