So, out of sheer curiosity I happened to check out what this folder is: C:\ProgramData\Lx_cats

A quick google of the folder gave me this page:

http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/ if-you-have-a-lexmark-printer-you-may-also-have-lexmark-spyw are

The ini file looks like this:

[CATS Control]
CATSParticipation=0
ArchiveCount=10
FirstSurveyDays=60
NextSurveyDays=180
NextArchiveDays=30
NextAIOFetch=0
NextUpload=30
NumRetries=5
TimeoutSecs=50
UploadURL=https://www.lxkcc1.com
MaxMsgSizeKb=600
UserName=b2btest
Password=b2btest
UploadINI=0
DeleteStatus=1
[CATS Scratch]
InstallDate=2454732
LastSurvey=2454732
LastArchive=2454909
LastAIOFetch=2454936
LastUpload=2454732
LastUploadError=0
LastConnectError=0
GUID=55555-55555-555-55-55555 //changed this line, obviously
[Serial Number]
Serial=blahblahblah //and this line

Nice little backdoor, huh?

How can we have so little protection from the government against this digital invasion of privacy. There exists far too little legislation and far too little effort spent enforcing what e-legislation we do have (in reference to USA).

Our politicians are either too old or too stupid to deal with the digital age effectively.

Another poster on this site referenced the fact that Lexmark has been doing this for years. Worse, another poster commented that other large companies such as Creative may be doing the same.