Color Copiers/Re: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)

[m5@vail.tivoli.com (Mike McNally)]

Paul Baclace writes:
 > Well, I'm glad to hear that use of color copiers isn't highly restricted, 
 > although there seems to be a good amount of misinformation (probably 
 > intentional from the SS).  

Well, a prime-time newsmagazine recently reported on this, and the
Canon copier with the copier ID imprinting technology (or hoax) was
explicitly discussed.

I think that it's always important to keep in mind that manufacturers
of things like copiers & printers are primarily (almost exclusively!)
interested in one thing: profit.  If they detect heat from the Secret
Service, they call the legal department to get an estimate on how much
it will cost in direct expenditures and lost opportunity to fight
regulations in court, and simultaneously call the engineering
department to find out how much it'll cost to do what the Feds want.
The smaller number wins.  Though it might remain legal for you to
build your own color copier or dye sublimation printer in your garage,
the Feds would have been pretty much successful.

Seriously: how many Fortune 1000 companies will refuse to buy a Canon
copier because of the serial number thing?  A few might have some
reservations, but since so much material will be identifiable as
belonging to the company anyway it doesn't seem like a big deal.
Canon might even be able to sell it as a quality control feature.

--
Mike McNally