Tracking dots can be used to confirm that a specific printer was used to print a specific page. However, going from only a serial number to finding the name and address of its owner is going to be very difficult to impossible. You might be able to track it down to the retailer, but if you buy your printer in person from a stack at Costco, nobody has any idea which printer has which serial number.

>However, going from only a serial number to finding the name and address of its owner is going to be very difficult to impossible.

Printers send telemetry to the mothership, including serial number. Anyone under NSL cannot disclose that fact, so it's possible (probable) that if OEMs are pulling serial numbers, computer names, usernames, registered owner names, IP address logs, that they are NSL to retain and/or redirect that data feed.

It explains why everything, everything is so ****ing leaky with your information (beyond just advertising). Where do you think our modern machine learning came from? It was in order to process this stupendously gigantic mountain of data! I'm sure Utah was running some less efficient prototype of the learning we see in the public today back in the time of the GWOT!

So no, it's not just to confirm, as a few privileged individuals [at best] can go to terminals and pull up gobs of information. This is one of the reasons seeing-sphere-company's stock has done so well recently (money money for me)!

Until you install the windows print driver. Which phones home to the manufacturer with your ip address, other computer details, and the discovered printer’s serial number.

"Register your printer for 6 free months of ink!"