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HP CEO: Blocking third-party ink from printers fights viruses

crossposted from: https://lemmy.blackeco.com/post/383102

His claims are quickly debunked in the article, as the true reason is, obviously, protecting their IP and subscription model

23 comments
  • To put it another way: HP printers are so poorly designed that ink cartridges are vectors for viruses

    • If you would just continuously use our proprietary, wireless DRM-enabled, subscription disinfectant, the wounds we keep cutting into you will (likely) remain uninfected

  • What a flaming pile of bullshit: HP is cancer when it comes to consumer printers.

    The only reason the attack vector exists in the first place is because they introduced it to price gouge the shit out of their customers.

  • Way back in the day HP was one of the best technology companies around. They were innovative, produced high quality products, and were a good place to work. It makes me sad that HP is now one of the worst tech companies and has among the strongest anti-consumer attitudes.

  • Jfc, what a fucking arrogant asshole. An asshole asshole for saying it, arrogant because he thinks anyone will believe it

    Also: brothers at least only blocks the third party inks from working.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Last Thursday, HP CEO Enrique Lores addressed the company's controversial practice of bricking printers when users load them with third-party ink.

    That frightening scenario could help explain why HP, which was hit this month with another lawsuit over its Dynamic Security system, insists on deploying it to printers.

    HP has issued firmware updates that block printers with such ink cartridges from printing, leading to the above lawsuit (PDF), which is seeking class-action certification.

    Still, because chips used in third-party ink cartridges are reprogrammable (their “code can be modified via a resetting tool right in the field,” according to Actionable Intelligence), they’re less secure, the company says.

    Further, there's a sense from cybersecurity professionals that Ars spoke with that even if such a threat exists, it would take a high level of resources and skills, which are usually reserved for targeting high-profile victims.

    Realistically, the vast majority of individual consumers and businesses shouldn't have serious concerns about ink cartridges being used to hack their machines.


    The original article contains 766 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

23 comments