Artifact left on screen

I've been seeing these artifacts on and off ever since I installed ubuntu well over a year ago. I reported it to the video driver writers many months ago, t/he/y shrugged and pointed a finger "that way". Perhaps you guys will take responsibility for it. Screen shot attached. Note carefully, the screenshot is not only of the artifact, but includes additional info in the pictured terminal window to the left of the artifact. Also please note that this artifact persists through all virtual desktops Finally, please note that the *contents* of the artifact changes - this is the first artifact that has done this. It seems to grab random portions of random terminal (Konsole) screens and the desktop too. Sometimes it appears above other windows, sometimes below. All previous artifacts had static contents and were always above other windows. I see artifacts show up maybe once every few months. Once the first one appears, others typically start to appear shortly after, until the screen becomes covered to the point that I'm forced to reboot in order to see anything I'm working on. The one attached is the first one so far. Thank you

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS
Release: 12.04

$ apt-cache policy plasma-desktop
plasma-desktop:
  Installed: 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3
  Candidate: 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3
  Version table:
 *** 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/backports/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4:4.8.5-0ubuntu0.3 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main i386 Packages
     4:4.8.2a-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages

$ dpkg --list | grep plasma
ii kde-plasma-desktop 5:78ubuntu3~ubuntu12.04.1~ppa1 KDE Plasma Desktop and minimal set of applications
ii libkdeclarative5 4:4.13.2a-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa1 declarative library for plasma
ii libplasma-geolocation-interface4 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 library for the Plasma geolocation
ii libplasma3 4:4.13.2a-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa1 Plasma Library for the KDE Platform
rc libplasmaclock4abi3 4:4.10.5-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa2 library for Plasma clocks
ii libplasmaclock4abi4 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 library for Plasma clocks
ii libplasmagenericshell4 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 shared elements for all the plasma shells
ii plasma-dataengines-addons 4:4.13.2-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa1 additional data engines for Plasma
ii plasma-dataengines-workspace 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 KDE Plasma data engines
ii plasma-desktop 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 KDE Plasma workspace for desktop and laptop computers
ii plasma-netbook 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 KDE Plasma workspace for netbook computers
ii plasma-scriptengine-javascript 4:4.13.2-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa4 JavaScript script engine for Plasma
ii plasma-scriptengine-python 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 Python script engine for Plasma
ii plasma-widget-facebook 1.0-0ubuntu1 Plasma Widget for Facebook Updates
ii plasma-widget-folderview 4:4.13.2-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa1 plasma widget showing the content of a folder
ii plasma-widget-kimpanel 4:4.13.2-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa1 KIMPanel widget for Plasma
ii plasma-widget-menubar 0.1.17-0ubuntu1 A Plasma applet to display application menubars
ii plasma-widget-message-indicator 0.5.8-1ubuntu1 Plasma widget to display message indicators
ii plasma-widgets-active 2.0+git2012021101-0ubuntu4~ppa3 plasma widgets and containments for the KDE Plasma Countor Active
ii plasma-widgets-addons 4:4.13.2-0ubuntu0.1~ubuntu12.04~ppa1 additional widgets for Plasma
ii plasma-widgets-workspace 4:4.11.6-0ubuntu1~ubuntu12.04.4~ppa3 plasma widgets and containments for the KDE Plasma Workspace

XdndAware(ATOM) = BITMAP
_MOTIF_DRAG_RECEIVER_INFO(_MOTIF_DRAG_RECEIVER_INFO) = 0x6c, 0x0, 0x5, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x10, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
WM_CLIENT_LEADER(WINDOW): window id # 0x1e00004
_NET_WM_PID(CARDINAL) = 3201
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DESKTOP
_MOTIF_WM_HINTS(_MOTIF_WM_HINTS) = 0x2, 0x1, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
WM_PROTOCOLS(ATOM): protocols WM_DELETE_WINDOW, WM_TAKE_FOCUS, _NET_WM_PING, _NET_WM_SYNC_REQUEST
WM_NAME(STRING) = "plasma-desktop"
WM_LOCALE_NAME(STRING) = "en_US.UTF-8"
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Plasma", "Plasma"
WM_HINTS(WM_HINTS):
                Client accepts input or input focus: True
                Initial state is Normal State.
                bitmap id # to use for icon: 0x1e00202
                window id # of group leader: 0x1e00004
WM_NORMAL_HINTS(WM_SIZE_HINTS):
                user specified location: 0, 0
                program specified location: 0, 0
                user specified size: 1440 by 900
                program specified size: 1440 by 900
                window gravity: Static
WM_CLIENT_MACHINE(STRING) = "myhost.mydomain.com"
WM_COMMAND(STRING) = { "/usr/bin/plasma-desktop" }

$ qdbus org.kde.kactivitymanagerd /ActivityManager/Activities ListActivities
660144e1-e91b-47c8-94f9-537d16c5f694

sudo lshw -C display
  *-display:0
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: RV370 [Radeon X300]
       vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 00
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=radeon latency=0
       resources: irq:43 memory:d0000000-d7ffffff ioport:dc00(size=256) memory:dfde0000-dfdeffff memory:dfe00000-dfe1ffff
  *-display:1 UNCLAIMED
       description: Display controller
       product: RV370 [Radeon X300 SE]
       vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
       physical id: 0.1
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
       version: 00
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:dfdf0000-dfdfffff