page_title: Machine Identification Code
section_title: Visibility
hierarchical_section_title: Machine Identification Code / Visibility
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Machine Identification Code (MIC, yellow dots, secret dots, tracking dots) unter UV-Licht in regelmäßiger (rot und blau markiert) und unregelmäßiger Anordnung (grün markiert)
context_page_description: A Machine Identification Code, also known as printer steganography, yellow dots, tracking dots or secret dots, is a digital watermark which certain color laser printers and copiers leave on every single printed page, allowing identification of the device with which a document was printed and giving clues to the originator. Developed by Xerox and Canon in the mid-1980s, its existence became public only in 2004. In 2018, scientists developed privacy software to anonymize prints in order to support whistleblowers publishing their work.
context_section_description: The Machine Identification Code can be made visible by printing or copying a page and subsequently scanning a small section with a high-resolution scanner. The yellow color channel can then be enhanced with an image processing program, to make any dots of the MIC clearly visible. Under good lighting conditions, a magnifying glass may be enough to see the pattern. Under UV-light the yellow dots are clearly recognizable.
  Using this steganographic process, high-quality copies of an original (e.g. a bank note) under blue light can be made identifiable. Using this process, even shredded prints can be identified: the 2011 "Shredder Challenge" initiated by the DARPA was solved by a team called "All Your Shreds Are Belong To U.S." consisting of Otavio Good and two colleagues.
caption: Machine Identification Code (MIC, yellow dots, tracking dots, secret dots) under UV-light in regular (red and blue markings) and irregular arrangement (green).
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