I remember this began 11-12yrs ago? Very hush-hush. I was a PostScript/RIP jockey doing printer development. We had publishing customers so preoccupied with dot-perfect output the idea of intentional corruption was unthinkable.
As I recall there was a negotiated truce that targeted small and mid-range engines. That's about when the profit picture eroded and I changed jobs, so I never knew how far things went.
Now that it's become common knowledge I expect watermarks will enjoy a new popularity. 
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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
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