Copier Security?
Well, it’s not as “out-there” as it seems…
Copiers aren’t just copiers anymore. They’re apparently also tools for violating intellectual property law. At least, according to this article on Wired News, that’s what some IP experts and academics think. And, considering how many copier/scanners I have to deal with at work, I can see it. I mean, I know that piracy is a surprisingly big issue in the publishing industry, not to mention all the cheating that seems to go on in High School and college these days.
Oh, I know that there was plenty of plagarism in my day, but it was mainly small-scale stuff. And, there were plenty of term-papers for sale through various channels, but we didn’t really have the Internet to speed things up for us. And, times are changing. I never really, seriously, thought about cheating on a term paper. After all, the whole point of going to college was to learn something. I may not have always understood what the professors were trying to teach me, but I did try to learn.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting that the high-tech copiers are finally becoming a security concern. I’ve suspected for a long time that there would be issues in places like federal law-enforcement offices, but, honestly, it never occured to me that privacy and intellectual property could become such big issues.
If you’re in charge of data security on your network, you might want to read this article and think about your company’s position on scanners and copiers.
