It’s so they can print the tracking dots.
For the unaware: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/household-printers-tracking-code/
I do love it when a snopes article is about something being true.
Wow, I had no idea. I thought the joke was needing full ink in an unrelated color. I didn’t know about tracking. I’m sadly unsurprised.
It’s for the purpose of serialization for counterfeit purposes. Also, high end copiers have a device installed called the BDU (Bill Detection Unit) that all scans pass through before being post processed. If the BDU detects a bill being scanned it can error and shut down the whole device until the manufacturer can send someone out to fix it. I used to be one of those people resetting BDUs at schools where a teacher thought it was a good idea to copy images of money for teaching students.
consumers will not notice any difference in the performance or effectiveness of products equipped with this technology.
I believe they missed this part of the memo
feature originally intended as a deterrent to counterfeiting currency with laser printers.
Honestly, the USA is something special. So they do this, instead of putting modern anticounterfit (like polimer notes with transparencies) measures onto their notes.
I think it isnt to stop it, it is to get a conviction.
This is what I mean. It’s bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. This lists the security features on a $5 note, and here’s for a £5 note.
Hold up… Was “Reality Winner” the name of an individual or a business? Like, I was stunned by the fact the yellow dots thing is a thing, but then it starts talking about “Reality Winner” and I can’t move on until I know what’s up with that name. lol
She is a former NSA translator who sent some classified documents to The Intercept. The Intercept failed to redact the document properly allowing the NSA to view identifying marks on the printout and track her down. I believe she has been release from prison.
My wife found a black and white Brother laser MFP at Goodwill for $15 and it has been an absolute game changer for us.
Welcome to the Brotherhood.
Picked up a refurbished laser printer at a garage sale 8 years ago. I still haven’t had to change the ink cartridges
I hope not, given that thing doesn’t have one!
My does. Samsung CLP 315W has like 4 toner cartridges
That was the joke, toner isn’t ink, it’s toner ;-)
I was unaware there was a difference
Ooh, you’re one of today’s lucky 10,000!
Ink is a liquid that is sprayed in tiny dots and dries onto the paper, while toner is a powder that gets attached to the paper with electrostatic forces using lasers, and then fused to it with heat! It’s a super neat process.
Ha jokes on you, I’ll just call HP Painters instead! 😜
They’re a good choice if you want your house bricked.
![The future of painting [skeleton claw]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/32428976-43db-403a-a1ba-28b7d5886875.png){kind=link}