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"Have you ever wondered why your printer is always out of yellow ink, even when you print only in black and white? There's a reason why this always happens."

"Typically, each time you print, your printer creates a series of dots all over your printed paper using only the yellow ink. They're small and hard to spot with the naked eye, but they're much easier to see with a black light."

"Every single time you click print, it does this. It's why you're always out of yellow ink, and it's why your printer refuses to work even when you're only printing in black and white. It's a requirement for your printer to work."

"These dots work kind of like the way a QR code does. It essentially creates a picture with information, metadata, embedded in the way the dots are arranged."

"First, what not to do:

...if you were hypothetically trying to print something that you didn't want traced back to you, for whatever reason,

**don't print it with your printer.**"

If you want some alternatives or strategies for how to deal with this issue, go ahead and read the full post on my website (all my posts are free):

https://www.revoluciana.net/how-to-distribute-radical-stuff/

Also, I really love writing these posts and I work really hard on them. If you appreciate my writing, maybe consider a free subscription to my newsletter via email or RSS.

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@revoluciana One thing I want to point out is that even if there’s no tracking dots, old tech usually has quirks that if you get raided, a flyer, printout, etc. could be confirmed as coming from that machine. Similarly for anything hand made like a print block. Unless it’s used and then discarded, if raided, it can be used to confirm that the flyer, artwork, etc was produced with that block.

It’s harder for gov agencies, but they can still be traced

@mira Thanks, Mira! I do try to highlight that a couple times in the full piece on the website.

Yeah, there's definitely a risk.

The way I look at it is that if you were hypothetically to print something spicy on a new printer, it points directly to you. If you were to use stencils and make a spicy poster, they have to suspect you first, and then they can find ways to confirm that suspicion, which is significantly more friction, work, effort, expertise, etc., and if nothing else, they then have to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it's worth it to go after you. If you're already pointing to yourself, though, they don't have to do any work because you've basically turned yourself in already.

It's really important to bring up those risks. But at the same time, sometimes risks have to be taken, and hopefully by combining methods, in the right situation, it's enough to stay safe.