Are your printed documents being tracked?

Did you know that your printer may be leaving identifiable marks on every page you print? Do you care? Well, apparently the European Union does.

Back in 2004, PC World published an article explaining that "several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce." Apparently, the U.S. government, among others, uses these markings (which are hidden to users) to track counterfeiters and other nogoodniks. At the time, there were a few headlines about it, but it was only a blip on the national zeitgeist -- except for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a few other privacy advocates.

Now, it looks like the EU may also object. As reported by the EFF, Satu Hassi, Member of the European Parliament for Finland, recently submitted a parliamentary question to the European Commission, asking if "the current practices of manufacturers in this regard, including their disclosures to consumers, are consistent with relevant Community law on data protection and consumer protection."

An answer published by Commissioner Franco Frattini (in a Word document accessible from the EU page) seems rather vague -- it excuses the practice on the grounds that the data printed doesn't necessarily relate to an identifiable individual, but goes on to say that if an individual could be identified, this could qualify as a violation of "the right to privacy and private life."

The EFF has pointed out -- and not without merit -- that while the purpose of this tracking system may be to track and identify criminal activities, it can also be used to identify documents by governments whose motives may not be to find counterfeiters but to maintain the political and social status quo.

Whatever the outcome of the EU's inquiry, attention should be paid. While online privacy issues are debated on the Web and in Congress, we should not forget there are other technologically-driven concerns outside the Internet that should not be forgotten.