Big brother lives in your laser printer

I came across an interesting little discovery today while perusing the blogosphere. It seems several years ago the U.S. government and major printer manufacturers struck a deal whereby the manufacturers would embed an invisible coding system into color laser prints to identify date, time and serial number of the printer involved. They're minute yellow dots and can only be seen with a magnifying glass in blue light and if you think it is just a little creepy that the government can know when and where you made a laser print, you can read more here.

On to other news. How about a look at Laurence W. Britt's Early Warning Signs of Fascism:

• Powerful and continuing nationalism
• Disdain for human rights
• Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
• Supremacy of the military
• Rampant sexism
• Controlled mass media
• Obsession with national security
• Religion and government entertwined
• Corporate power protected
• Labor power suppressed
• Disdain for intellectuals & the arts
• Obsession with crime & punishment
• Rampant cronyism & corruption
• Fraudulent elections

Sound familiar? They're a result of Britt's research on seven fascist regimes.