Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (Parc) has been showing
off a new printer paper that wipes itself clean every day.
The 'intelligent redaction' paper is coated with an
ultraviolet-sensitive material and text is printed by light
beams rather than toner. The light deposits black spots on
the paper to create text, but these fade away after 24 hours.
Jessica Staddon, manager of security and privacy research
at Parc, explained that the technology makes it easier to
collaborate during the process of identifying and redacting
privileged information. "Interviews with paralegals and
attorneys highlighted the difficulties of identifying information
that falls under attorney-client privilege and which should
be redacted" - she said.
"In practice, identifying such information involves
multiple sets of eyes. Junior attorneys make a first pass
and then send the documents to senior attorneys for comments."
Staddon said that the paper could be used around 100 times
before the coating's ability to fade starts to deteriorate.
Xerox estimates that 40 per cent of documents are viewed
only once after printing and that the paper would have an
environmental benefit also. The company expects print volumes
to climb 30 per cent in the next 10 years.
Parc has a long record of technological breakthroughs - including
Ethernet, the graphical user interface, the mouse, laser printing
and object orientated programming.
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