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HP Fails To Dodge Lawsuit Over Blocking Users From Using Their Printer Scanner If Ink Cartridges Aren’t Installed

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/21/hp-fails-to-dodge-lawsuit-over-blocking-users-from-using-their-printer-scanner-if-ink-cartridges-arent-installed/

When it comes to obnoxious DRM and bizarre, greedy restrictions, nobody does it better than printer manufacturers. The industry has long waged a not-so-subtle war on its own customers, routinely ro…

HP Fails To Dodge Lawsuit Over Blocking Users From Using Their Printer Scanner If Ink Cartridges Aren’t Installed

33 comments

alphapuggle

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They'll get a slap on the wrist fine that nowhere near accounts for the amount of money they made doing this.

Bluefruit

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True but this also sets precedent for other cases which is an overall win. But i do wish the fines were bigger I agree with you there.

Qwaffle_waffle

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They need to do a percentage of revue, rather than a fixed price for businesses. Affects bigger companies harder, but let's smaller ones still work through it.

procrastinator

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Fine of at least 150% of money earned, though they'll just say it earned them nothing

Angius

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It sets the size of the fee the company will need to pay to do it.

MeanEYE

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I loved how EU set fines for GDPR breaches and I feel the same should be applied in other fields when companies are involved. There are two tiers of penalties, with a maximum of 20m euros or 4% of global revenue. That way they feel it. Really feel it. Google got smacked 50 million € for GDPR breach. H&M 35M.

silvercove

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HP has one of the worst customer experiences out there. I don't understand why people keep buying HP trash.

dudewitbow

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People use it because hp printers are cheap, but the users dont know what they are putting themselves into by buying hp.

_number8_

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software locks are inherently immoral and anti consumer.

elbarto777

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All of them, or just specific instances?

MeanEYE

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Stallman from FSF would probably say only if the software is updateable. Firmware which can't be changed is no different from hardware. I kind of agree, even though he said that about open source. But the point still stands. If printer can't be used without account or always online or ink. Then it's a feature. Whether you agree with it or not, vote with your wallet. However if they hide the feature that's misleading advertising and it's a different crime all together.

But what HP tried to do is to send over the air update that prevented printers from using recycled toner. Now that's a bitch move.

CaptainAniki

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All closed source software is.

MxM111

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By itself there is nothing immoral in software lock, but the way it is used here is immoral. It is common understanding and expectation that the scanner should work if there is no ink, thus locking scanner is doggy technique. Locking printer if you do not have ink, however, is totally fine, since it prevents printer damage.

Num10ck

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but i only want to print black and white! fuck magenta's issues.

lemann

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I miss old printers that would offer to print in black & white or composite black depending on which cartridge is low ☹️

MxM111

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I am sure you can do it in print settings.

Ragnell

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@Num10ck Put a black cartridge where the color cartridge should be?

CMLVI

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70% of the time, they're different sizes. And if they aren't, then the little chip on them let's the printer know it isn't the correct cartridge.

If only it were so simple...

Ragnell

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If someone ever made dummy cartridges they would sell nicely, I suspect.

Darkassassin07

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HP has locked down their cartridges so much that even third party hack ones require extracting the chip from a genuine cartridge.

Ragnell

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See, now THIS is rentrophy.

YeetPics

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It's a legit use of DRM/software lock if HP gives you the printer to use (for free) when you buy some ink, but they're charging for it and the ink.

It's function theft.

Melpomene

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Yeah, last HP I bought got returned immediately because I couldn't fucking print or do anything without registering the printer. Like I want HP monitoring every print job and scan because marketing.

I think I ended up getting a Brother because at least it worked without access to the Internet.

fry

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I’ve been using brother laser printers for over 15 years now. Toner is very reasonably priced from them and lasts forever. Plus, no sketchy things like forced registration.

Angius

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Now if only they were reasonably sized like inkjets too...

TwoGems

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Can you recommend me a recent one that prints color too?

fry

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I've been using the HL-L8360 for a few years and I still haven't had to replace the cartridges it came with. Gone through probably 8-10 reams of paper in that time. The starter cartridges are the smallest of the three sizes too, so when they go I'll just buy the big ones and probably be good for a half decade or more haha!

If you're looking for something a little cheaper, you could look into something like the HLL3210. I'm not sure which is true laser and which is LED, but usually the inexpensive ones are LED and not true laser printers. Really that only matters if you're looking for that extra-crisp text from a laser printer. For day-to-day printing you'll never care or notice.

TwoGems

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Thanks

MeanEYE

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Literally anything from Brother is good. You can pick any that fits your price range and has features you need.

Classy

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I use q 20-year-old HP office printer (1320n) for document printing. Thing is an absolute tank

sebinspace

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EAT IT YOU LITTLE SHITS

MeanEYE

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Sadly, they earned a lot of money and this was just calculated expense of doing business. Pretty much all big companies operate like that. Abuse the system, rake in money, leave some aside for settling lawsuits. Forbidding them to sell products for a specific time or recalling all the printers and giving money back... that would make them think twice about next time.

phario

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I love how so many comments and replies ascribe some form of ‘guilt’ to this, as if HP employees would feel shame. This doesn’t really mean anything to a company that size.

One of the great things about moving to the UK is that, despite all its problems, consumer protection Europe is so much better than in the US.

vext01

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Good!

CookieJarObserver

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Next they need to be charged for the ink itself... Literally the most expensive liquid on the planet, more than fucking LSD!

pdxfed

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And a hearty fuck you to HP Sales execs, may their children fritter their unearned stock grants on glow in the dark drink umbrellas.

cryptosporidium140

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Permanently Deleted