OPEN CALL

BETWEEN WILD RUMOUR AND A GENUINE ACCOUNT

Many color laser printers and color photocopiers encode the date, the serial number, and the type designation with every document those machines produce.
These codes are invisible to the human eye as they are microscopically small and printed in yellow. They are called Tracking Dots or Yellow Dots or Machine Identification Codes (MIC).
The manufacturers don't inform the user about this implemented marking technology.
In June 2017 the American whistleblower Reality Leigh Winner was tracked probably by Yellow Dots that were found on her photocopies.
Back in 2005 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) started an open call to collect printed material and set up a database.
Two years ago the TU Dresden developed a software that conceals the codes.
Together with the TU Dresden I want to set up an updated database and therefor I need your help.

If you own or have access to a color laser printer or color photocopier please carry out the next five steps:

1. Select one of the following PDFs and download it.

test_sheet_default.pdf; 0.5 mb; 50 pages; A4

test_sheet_01.pdf; 0.6 mb; 30 pages; A4

test_sheet_02.pdf; 0.5 mb; 40 pages; A4

test_sheet_03.pdf; 0.6 mb; 30 pages; A4

test_sheet_04.pdf; 0.6 mb; 36 pages; A4

test_sheet_05.pdf; 4.0 mb; 74 pages; A4

test_sheet_06.pdf; 0.5 mb; 30 pages; A4

2. Print out the entire pdf on the color laser printer or color photocopier that you have access to.

3. Please note the date, the type designation, and (if possible) the serial number on the front page of the printed material. This information is relevant for the decoding process.

4. Please send these test sheets to the following address:

Wolfgang Plöger /Studio
Prinzenallee 20 / Hinterhof
D-13357 Berlin
Germany


5. As a thank-you all participants will receive a copy of this edition.

The material you submitted will be scanned and decoded. These scans become part of an online database. Later your copies will be bound into a book. It will be made public as part of an artistic research project that is going to be exhibited at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) at the end of the year.

Below you will find some weblinks and some images of the books that are produced so far.
Many thanks for your help!



Weblinks:
Wikipedia_Reality Winner
FAZ.net_NSA-Whistleblowerin zu Haft verurteilt
TU Dresden_Geheime Daten auf dem Druckpapier
EFF_Printer Tracking
Unabhängiges Landeszentrum fur Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein_Vorsicht: Yellow Dots!

BETWEEN WILD RUMOUR AND A GENUINE ACCOUNT, 2020; prints/photocopies of various color laser printers

KONICA MINOLTA AccurioPrint C3070L; book cover

KONICA MINOLTA AccurioPrint C3070L; book

XEROX WorkCentre 7556, book cover

XEROX WorkCentre 7556, book