Printer Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Raising Privacy Hackles.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Publication: Investor's Business Daily

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.

Byline: SHEILA RILEY

As printers and copiers get more sophisticated, there's a greater risk they'll be used to counterfeit IDs, documents -- even currency.

That's why printer makers are adding anti-counterfeiting features to their products. The technology can help trace a document back to the printer or copier that produced it, helping law officers catch crooks.

But there's a downside to these developments, critics say. The same technology could theoretically be used to track people's activities and rob them of their privacy -- even when they've done nothing wrong.

"If this power is placed in the wrong hands, I could see it being misused," said Lou Ederer, an intellectual property lawyer in New York....

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