Your printer is snitching on you
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, Kim Commando here. Well, first up, we have your digital life hack. And after that, I'm going to play a call from my weekend national radio show. Every document you print has a secret code on it, and it traces right back to you. I'm Kim Commando for Carbonite, my number one choice for cloud backup. Get 50% off at carbonite.com slash Kim. Live a better digital life with Carbonite.
What secret code is embedded in every printed document?
Most color printers add tiny yellow dots to every single page. They're nearly invisible. You can't see them unless you know where to look. Those dots contain your printer's serial number, plus the date and time you printed the document. Law enforcement has used this for years to track down counterfeiters, leakers, and even the person who leaked NSA documents back in 2017. They match the yellow dots to a printer. Want to see them? Print a page with some color on it. Shine a blue LED light on it in a dark room. And there they are, tiny yellow dots in a pattern. Not every printer does this, but most major brands do. HP, Canon, Xerox, Brother, there is no way to turn them off. So remember, your printer is keeping receipts.
Join almost a million folks who get my free newsletter every single day. It's five-star rated at GetKim.com. Next up, a call from my weekend show, The Kim Commando Show. Enjoy!
uh rod in los angeles california hi there rod hi what a great crew you have the energy they put out for you here it's good awesome appreciate that rod what's on your mind today yeah i uh listen to you every weekend i download the you know the shows and i've heard you talk a couple of times about when you had the guys planting cameras out in front of your house oh yeah How to pick that up. And it's not paranoia for me, but it is in a way it's sort of like having this simple and safe system. I live in an area where I've got a lot of brush and stuff out front and across the street. There are frequently vendors there and a lot of people around. And I've seen enough of this in L.A. where they sort of hit a, you know, a community area.
And, again, it's like having a security system. I'd like to be able to RS. You talked about the protectors, you know, how you can, there are some devices that will pick that up.
How do law enforcement agencies use printer codes for tracking?
And I'd like to be able to have one so that I can, again, screen it.
So you want to, are you afraid that somebody is going to come into your neighborhood and and then jam all the Wi-Fi signals so that this way your security system doesn't work?
Yeah, that's correct. Or they can just be doing surveillance and see what I do, and then when I'm gone, come in, because these guys have gangs periodically that come through and they'll hit houses.
And I'll tell you, these Wi-Fi jammers, I saw one in action last week. I never had seen, and as you talked about, Rod, I mean, my house got hit by the Chilean gangs and the videos up on YouTube. Yeah, I remember. Yes. And I mean, I'm like sitting there on the patio like, hi guys, we're the Phoenix SWAT team. What's going on?
What steps can you take to reveal the hidden dots in your prints?
They're like, get in the house, get in the house. All these helicopters around like, hey, you want to come for dinner? You guys need water or anything? Anyway, so the Chilean gangs used the Wi-Fi jammers to try to break into our house because they thought maybe we had gone to dinner. but they couldn't because the house was hardwired. So last week I had the opportunity where somebody showed me the wifi jammers. It's about the size of a deck of cards and he got it off of a website in China, took about three months to get over here. It has two buttons and you press button number one
Which major printer brands use the secret coding system?
And it takes down all the Wi-Fi within probably, I don't know how many feet, and it keeps the Wi-Fi down for 16 to 18 minutes. I mean, that one button. And I said, what does button number two do? And he goes, well, that's Wi-Fi end cell. oh okay and buzz out button number two will take all your wi-fi and your cell out for 16 to 18 minutes so if somebody's trying to break in you're a sitting duck well he wants to jam the jammers though he wants to get ahead of the game
Well, I want to be able to pick up that they've got something planted around that potentially maybe even just the cameras.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:21
2
What secret code is embedded in every printed document?
0:21–2:17
3
How do law enforcement agencies use printer codes for tracking?
2:17–3:12
4
What steps can you take to reveal the hidden dots in your prints?
3:12–3:55
5
Which major printer brands use the secret coding system?
3:55–8:30