The Email.

I figured that after confirming of the presence of the yellow dots, I could email Lexmark and ask them what the deal was. I sent them the following email through their generic customer support page:

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Hello,

My printer prints a matrix of yellow dots over everything I print, and I cannot disable this "feature". After some web searching, I've found that the dots appear to be intentional: http://www.eff.org/issues/printers

I have a few photos I snapped of this that I can email if required.

I have two questions:
1) Can I disable the yellow dots?
2) Why are they there in the first place?

Thank you!
-Brahm

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I figured that they would take me at my word. Here is the response I received:

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Dear Brahm,

Thank you for contacting Lexmark email support. I would like to assist you in this regard.

As I understand from your mail that the Lexmark C530 printer is exhibiting print quality issue. For which the main cause of the issue could be with the Photoconductor Unit or the Toner Cartridge. In order to figure out which of the part is causing the issue, please follow the troubleshooting steps given below.

1. Please swap the Yellow Photoconductor Unit with the Magenta Photoconductor Unit and print the Print Quality Pages.
To Print The Print Quality Pages:
a: Power the printer off.
b: While holding down both Check Mark & Right Arrow button and the button on the printer's operator panel, power the printer back on.
c: When you see Performing Self Test or the clock graphic on the printer display, release both buttons.
d: Use either the Top Arrow Button or Down Arrow Button on the printer operator panel to scroll through the various menu options until you see Select Print Quality Pages (or Select Prt Quality Pages) on the printer display.
e: Press the Select button or Check Mart Button to initiate the printing of the quality pages. When the pages have finished printing, Select Print Quality Pages (or Select Prt Quality Pages) should once again appear on the printer display.

2. Check whether after swapping the photoconductor Unit, does the color changes to Magenta.

3. If it changes to the Magenta then the photoconductor Unit is defective. The Photoconductor Unit has to be replaced to fix the issue.

4. Please get back with the photoconductor Unit Part Number and barcode Number (found on the Photoconductor Unit).

5. If the issue stays with the same Yellow then the Toner Cartridge is defective, the Toner Cartridge needs to be replaced to fix the issue. Please get back with the Toner Cartridge Part Number and the barcode Number (found on the Toner Cartridge).

Please print out a Menu settings page to identify the supply level. To do so follow the steps to print the Menu Settings Pages below:

1. Make sure the printer is turned on and in the Ready state.
2. Scroll in the menu till you find Reports.
3. Press select and under this menu search for Menu Settings Page.
4. Press select again to print the pages.

Please get back with results and the following information,

First Last Name
Contact Number
Business/Company Name
Street Address Where Printer Is Located With The Postal/Province Code

Here is your Service Request # {removed}

If you have any more questions or concerns, please contact me at your convenience and I will be happy to assist you. (If I am not available, another representative may reply to your request.)

Sincerely,
{removed}
Lexmark eSupport Team
http://support.lexmark.com
[THREAD ID:{removed}]

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To make a long story short, the issue at hand of yellow tracking dots was ignored, and I am required to jump through several technical troubleshooting hoops before I can make a more extensive claim that my printer does, in fact, encode forensic tracking dots on everything I print! But I WILL cooperate, in the interest of my own privacy and consumer rights!

Next step: The Procedure.