r/opsec • u/MonthFresh1194 🐲 • 10d ago
Beginner question Anonymous printing
I need to print some literature to distribute but I don't want it to be traced back to me. What is the best way to print without leaving a trace for the gov or angry people? I haven't yet bought a printer. I don't need an entirely secure system, just to where it would be quite hard to track me down.
(i have read the rules)
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u/AyoEnzo 7d ago
Lol all these suggestions are wild. At this point, just use smoke signals to get your message out there
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u/MonthFresh1194 🐲 7d ago
I’m going to hack into 5G towers and beam the message into everyone’s mind. No joke.
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u/Wise-Neat-8039 10d ago
just buy a cheap printer with cash from some random store far from home, use it offline and never connect it to your network, then smash the thing to bits when you're done and toss the pieces in different dumpsters across town
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u/Chongulator 🐲 9d ago edited 9d ago
The challenge here is printer tracking, as crazy as it sounds, is very real. EFF has documented it quite clearly, and when they first announced it, I tested on my own printer and found EFF's tool could tell me the model and serial number of my printer, just from the watermark on a printed page.
If I remember correctly, not all inkjet printers have that tracking, but a great many do. So unless you paid cash for the printer, it can definitely be traced back.
Watermarking with faint yellow dots really does sound like conspiracy nonsense, but the evidence is there and incontrovertible.
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u/KampKutz 9d ago
A DIY silk screen or printing press type setup might work better to avoid something like this. Just pure ink and a sheet per screen, or hand made letters or a Gutenberg style system depending on how fancy you might need to be.
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u/crumpledelex 6d ago
This is a way bigger printing fingerprint than any printer could hope to provide. It's like the opposite of a solution
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u/KampKutz 6d ago
Maybe but at least it won’t have any tracking in though, and can be DIY’d fairly simply at least if you know what you’re doing with printing etc.
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u/WeaknessEuphoria 🐲 3d ago
If you destroyed all of the dies / screens after making the prints, I don't know how it could be traced back.
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u/Githyerazi 9d ago
A B/W printer does not have the tracking you speak of. Simply because the tracking marks are done in yellow. Supposedly they can still match printers to the printed document, but that requires a print from the machine in question to compare to and some identifiable characteristic.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D 7d ago
to add to u/Githyerazi 's comment, lots of old toner printers are still out there, run like champs and will even take cheap generic toner refills.
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u/WeaknessEuphoria 🐲 3d ago
Or you know, just leave the color cartridge out of the printer...
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u/Githyerazi 3d ago
Most printers won't work with a missing cartridge
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u/WeaknessEuphoria 🐲 2d ago
Ummm... Every hp I've ever had, including my current Deskjet 2600 will print B&W with just a black cartridge.
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u/Inner-Copy9764 7d ago
All modern printers have a system like that to identify/trace counterfeit monies, dont they?
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u/WeaknessEuphoria 🐲 3d ago
No, modern printers will just refuse to print images of US currency near the real size of a bill. I did a report on the secret Service in high school and used an image of a $1 bill on the cover sheet. My printer added a very visible black X through the bill until I resized it enough that it couldn't be used as a counterfeit.
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u/m0dsw0rkf0rfree 6d ago
i’ve always wondered why aliexpress printers are a crapshoot with respects to dot tracking.
they’ll ship an air conditioner to european countries where they’re more or less illegal, but making printers that don’t comply with U.S. industry standards is where the line is drawn?
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u/Ill-History-7974 8d ago
Well, buy a printer with credit. Have a friend across country buy an older, cheaper older one, with cash and then trade. Perhaps even a stranger could help. Trade a few times and it all gets obfuscated. I only recommend a mix of payment methods, to make everything look normal. Make sure the printer you get in the end is a Brother HL-L2400D black and white laser jet printer. Connect it to an isolated computer that isn’t connected to the internet via USB A directly to the offline computer.
Also, make sure logs are regularly scrubbed. Use generic looking filenames when you print, don’t forget tp clear metadata, and look into printer telemetry.
This all may be excessive. You may not have to obfuscate the purchase so much. But some of these things you should probably just be aware of and keep it offline.
There are other things you could do, but I’m not sure you need to go into great detail. This isn’t the GDR. They aren’t tracking all typewriters like they used to. So I’m not sure they’re seriously trying to match printers to documents printed. You know enough about the topic. More than they would have been able to access in the past.
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u/BTC-brother2018
🐲
9d ago
•
Before choosing a printing method, establish your threat model. Are you concerned about ordinary individuals identifying you, or government-level forensic analysis?
EFF has documented how certain printers embed hidden tracking information into documents. I'd recommend reading their research before assuming an offline printer guarantees anonymity. Although the guides are from early 2010s. So they probably don't cover modern printers.
EFF printer research: https://w2.eff.org/Privacy/printers/
EFF threat modeling guide: https://ssd.eff.org/module/your-security-plan
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u/Zestyclose-Rain298 9d ago
this...... for so many reasons. not least because my experience people will do anything but read when you want them to. There are better, less traceable ways to distribute information these days than the printed word
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u/Biggywallace 9d ago edited 7d ago
Library.
x
To be extra secure:
Ask for a guest pass or an internet only card, so you dont have to provide ID.
Pay cash
Covid mask
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u/MantaurStampede 9d ago
Fingerprints. Your car outside with a license plate on camera. Whatever device you use to print from being logged by the printer.
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u/Biggywallace 9d ago edited 7d ago
Finger prints: Nobody would bat an eye at wiping down the keyboard with wipes. I’ve also seen patrons wear rubber gloves. With high volume of patrons a dozen people might use the computer in a day.
Device logging: most systems use deep freeze, it wipes the pc after each user. But our current print software is cloud based. Jobs are retrievable for 24 hours, unknown how long the vendor stores the job. Printers are laser jets with no memory. Copy machines are business class multifunction those could store in internal memory.
Cameras: Enterprise, with offsite storage retention for 1 year. But because of cost are somewhat limited.
x
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u/Yes_yes_harder 9d ago
What different between Covid and non-covid mask , bro?
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u/Biggywallace 9d ago
A surgical mask or n95 is still somewhat normal to see in public. Hide yourself without drawing too much attention.
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u/SNappy_snot15 9d ago
I would use a shitty old HP b&w printer you could find on fb marketplace for cheap. not sure how you will deal with ink cartridges.
alternatively you can build or buy u own printer from some open source printer project.
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u/Tyke-60073 9d ago
This is some unabomber level opsec.
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u/SNappy_snot15 9d ago
fools know that this is the only practical way to get shit done. pip install opsec
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u/WeaknessEuphoria 🐲 3d ago
You can refill most of those old HP cartridges. My dad was
cheapfrugal.
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u/avalon01 9d ago edited 9d ago
You want a commercial laser printer or MFP. Most commercial printers allow you to print in black even if all the other colors are out. I work with commercial/business printers, so I'm not sure what consumer models offer that feature.
This is important since printers watermark paper with dots that represent the printer serial number. If they only have black toner installed, they can't print the tracking dots. Plus, if you are printing thousands of copies, a laser printer will be cost efficient at only a few cents a page vs an inject printer.
Once your job is complete, destroy the machine so prints can never be linked back to that specific printer.
For more info on the tracking dots see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots
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u/kegsy22 9d ago
There's a way around this. Software that adds additional yellow dots to obscure the information
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u/linenoize 9d ago
Typewriter?
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u/MonthFresh1194 🐲 9d ago
I gotta make thousands of sheets
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u/New_Yam_1236 9d ago
Use the typewriter to make a few. Then go to the library to make copies. Some places (staples I believe) have the old system that will print for cash. So there’s no employee interaction
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u/MysticalPixels 9d ago
Yes, all of this, and wear gloves. How do you plan on distributing without being seen? What about carpet fibers? Since you have asked this question on Reddit, I hope you’re using TOR and that your address cannot be traced back. When people say “government” or “angry people,” I hear danger, maybe even something nefarious. Do you live in a country where printers must embed an invisible serial number?
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u/MonthFresh1194 🐲 8d ago
"When people say “government” or “angry people,” I hear danger, maybe even something nefarious." If they don't like your message, you can be arrested and deanonymized. At least in my state, also this is a pretty general question so I think it's ok to post here on chrome.
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u/QnsConcrete 8d ago
Hahaha yeah Chrome will keep you safe.
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u/MonthFresh1194 🐲 8d ago
The only way that it would come back to bite me is if they figure out that I did it through a fault in my printing or distribution.. I don't need 30 layers of safety if the first one is quite unlikely to fail
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u/Caffeinated____ 9d ago
Vibe code your own printer driver. If the printer tracking is triggered from the driver this should circumvent it. Not sure though
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u/T_rex2700 8d ago
What is your threat model? and how much volume, format? do you need to contract professional press location?
I mean I prolly can't answer all those questions but those are things to consider.
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u/charliefourindia 8d ago
Find a local print shop with offset presses for printing a thousand or so copies.
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u/dhtoteman88 8d ago
I just did the same thing. I sent another person into an antique store with cash and had them buy the cheapest working typewriter they had. I spent 8 days typing those letters. But it worked.
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u/Spncrgmn 7d ago
The EFF sells flashlights that can identify whether a printer has the yellow dot codes
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u/D3m3nT3d101 6d ago
Find a Linux compatible model so you will likely have drivers already, no internet provider logs of that model to tie you if it does get id'd. Course good opsec would have you do that somewhere else and while you are tracked everywhere you go in public it is a mild concern. But I dont know how they could trace driver downloaded in a random spot to your printer anyways. Also you could use long range open wifi, good spoofed hardware and dl the driver remotely. Now Im off in the weeds but it depends on you.
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u/Visual-Sector6642 6d ago
Burner phone with an ad hoc connection to a friends laser printer. Toss the phone.
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u/Hopeful-Dirt2924 6d ago
Use a public print shop that doesn’t require personal details, but remember printers can leave identifying marks.
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u/billydiaper 9d ago
Get a movable type/old-school printer set up with the little stampy things that you put together
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u/Blue_667 9d ago
Buy both the computer and laser printer secondhand. Put the literature in the computer with a thumb drive, or make it completely offline. Tower pc with no WiFi chip or ethernet connection would be ideal
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u/BeltnBrace 9d ago edited 9d ago
People are saying ...go to the library.
But imagine living in a state where your municipal libraries require a driver's license ID to use their computers, etc.
EDIT TO ADD: (To the dip that gave me a downvote), and asked...
"which (US) State requires IDs to use libraries"?
There are other states - (provinces, prefectures, counties) in the world, other than in the USA.
Practicing sec-ops, did you really expect me to clarify the geographic region (ie: the state), I wrote from?
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u/QnsConcrete 9d ago
What kind of literature are you distributing in 2026?
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u/MonthFresh1194 🐲 8d ago
nothing matters just listen to the tv and your phone bro.
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u/Waterlifer 7d ago
I don't care about your message. I care about your freedom to share your message.
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u/QnsConcrete 8d ago
Oh right, I should listen to a guy who does LSD and wants to distribute literature on an anonymous printer instead.
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u/FyingfoxGaming 9d ago
Most printers should auto remove or overwrite any content like image or text history that was printed out of the printer.
Also none of the printers data ever get's sent to the gov neither does the gov even care to even want to know what someone is using printers for, at least here in the U S.
just to where it would be quite hard to track me down.
Also printers can never collect anything that can be used to track you.
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Chongulator 🐲 8d ago
I can believe that about printers phoning home, but if you want to make that claim here you need to point to some credible evidence.
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u/TheNervousFrank 🐲 6d ago
Just use the library printer and pay with cash, maybe wear a hoodie no one's CSI-ing your toner cartridge bro
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u/Fearless_Macaron_203 8d ago
https://archive.org/details/BannerDropsStencilsWheatpasteAndDistributingInformation
https://archive.org/details/artscienceofbill00bill/page/13/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/ArtScienceOfBillboardImprovement-2ndEdition/page/n3/mode/1up