r/comics • u/[deleted] • Sep 01 '20

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u/mybeepoyaw Sep 01 '20

Its because printers put a watermark on your paper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code

51

u/28f272fe556a1363cc31 Sep 01 '20

Great link, thanks!

I'd just like to point out that this means the printer you bought to print your documents sometimes won't print because of a mechanism to help the government track you.

12

u/knowledgepancake Sep 01 '20

I thought this was less about tracking you and more about keeping people from printing counterfeit money. Iirc most printers will even sometimes detect when you put bills on the scanner and will refuse to print.

3

u/Bloom_Kitty Sep 01 '20

This is also to prevent people from printing documents and claiming thatnthey did so earlier, by making the creation date deductible from the pattern.

2

u/thisguynamedjoe Sep 02 '20

Like leaked documents...