This little tidbit from Yahoo Tech (first reported in 2005 but evidently not widely known): most color laser printers have embedded patterns of little dots (yellow and impossible to see with the naked eye) that are unique and traceable. They’re printer fingerprints….

These little dots were (supposedly) originally meant to thwart counterfeiters.

But it seems the FBI has been using these “fingerprints” to trace down who’s doing printing jobs for “suspicious”groups like (wait for it) – Greenpeace and ACLU….

That word you’re looking for is chilling.

That other word you’re looking for is outrage.

As Yahoo’s techie guy Christopher Null reports, the good news is that not all printers have these embedded dots. So if you’re planning to print whistle blowing documents against your boss or hand out broadsheets against a certain vindictive Vice President of the United States, find yourself a reliable ink jet….

(If you want to know if your printer is traceable, check here.)