They make ink cartridges that run and run out in a week, they sue people who make compatible ink cartridges, and now they can monitor your print usage. Yes, ladies and gents, it's Lexmark, one of the largest printer-making companies in the United States. According to a post on USENET (a large, connected series of Internet bulletin boards), Lexmark's new drivers for the X5250 inkjet printer, which is sold in stores across the U.S. and possibly bundled with OEM machines (Dell Computers is a large purchaser of Lexmark Equipment, and their printers are bundled with Dell machines, as well as with rebate packages in many computer stores, primarily Best Buy) tracks printer usage and reports it back to the domain www.lxkcc1.com. Performing a WHOIS search on this domain shows that it is registered to Lexmark. The WHOIS tool returns these specific results to a query for the administrative contact for the domain: Blair, Geoffrey gblair@lexmark.com Lexmark International, Inc. 740 New Circle Road NW Lexington, KY 40550 US 859-232-1028 A USENET post made on November ninth states that the researcher who found this had found a directory in his Program Files folder called "Lx_CATS," and it contained two DLL files as well as an INI file. Upon opening the INI file, information was discovered that the DLL files would track printer and cartridge usage and report back to Lexmark once every thirty days. Lexmark, when contacted about this, initially denied any knowledge of the DLL files and their functions. After further questioning, Lexmark admitted that the tracking software was there, and it was done for "survey purposes." The executive who admitted this also stated that the serial number of the printer was transmitted as well. This can be used, if the user has registered for the warranty, to deny repair service if the user does not use Lexmark-branded cartridges, as the user must register the serial number with Lexmark to receive repair service while in warranty. While Lexmark lost a recent lawsuit that sought to ban third-party printer cartridges from being used in their printers, the latest driver revisions I could find on their site are marked from February 2004, which leads me to think that this program has been in place far longer than anyone presently suspects. I use a number of Lexmark E520 laser printers on my network at my office. Suffice it to say, I will _not_ upgrade the drivers past the ones I have on CD and are verified safe as of now, and I will heartily recommend devices from other manufacturers to my employers as well as friends. With luck, Lavasoft will add this particular piece of scum to their tracking database soon. - Tuxedo Jack November 13th, 2004 - - - - - - - - - - Sources: Slashdot, "Are Your Peripherals Spying On You?" http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/11/13/015214.shtml?tid=158&tid=194&tid=172&tid=201&tid=218 Silicon.com, "Spyware Charges Levelled at Lexmark" http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39125876,00.htm Engadget, "Are Lexmark's Printers Spying on You?" http://www.engadget.com/entry/3508496627337139/ Network Solutions WHOIS tool http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml Google Groups, Individual USENET post http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&selm=3ec7f2e1.0411090817.3c9c0c7%40posting.google.com Aunty Spam's Net Patrol, "If You Have A Lexmark Printer, You May Also Have Lexmark Spyware" http://www.aunty-spam.com/archives/2004/11/11/if-you-have-a-lexmark-printer-you-may-also-have-lexmark-spyware