HP Apologizes for Bricking Third-Party Cartridges, Will Restore Functionality

This article promised a &quot;sincere apology&quot;, but what followed instead was<p>&gt; We updated a cartridge authentication procedure in select models of HP office inkjet printers to ensure the best consumer experience and protect them from counterfeit and third-party ink cartridges [...]<p>That&#x27;s insincere as hell. It all paraphrases to &quot;We did this for your own good and we&#x27;re sorry you got upset&quot;.

I was recently in the market for a label printer. Dymo is the leader on this kind of products and as I was about to buy one I read this review<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;review&#x2F;R2VG8JOAJDWJ0E&#x2F;ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B0027JIIKQ&amp;channel=detail-glance&amp;nodeID=1064954&amp;store=office-products" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;review&#x2F;R2VG8JOAJDWJ0E&#x2F;ref=cm_cr_dp_ti...</a><p>as well as many like it, that explain how the printer will only accept original, overpriced Dymo labels.<p>I bought a Brother QL-700 instead, with ordinary labels that cost 1&#x2F;5 of the price of the Dymo ones, and couldn&#x27;t be happier.<p>Let&#x27;s hope those practices hurt the businesses instead of helping their bottom line, that&#x27;s the only way we will get rid of them.

If I squint my eyes (or brain) really hard I can just about believe that zero day exploits <i>could</i> exist for a printer cartridge.<p>But then I just arrive at the conclusion that if you didn&#x27;t add DRM and try to make cartridges &quot;smart&quot; there wouldn&#x27;t even be a security vector...

Spend a bit more and get yourself a Brother monochrome laser printer, you won&#x27;t have to deal with it squirting half of its ink down the drain every time it needs to unclog.

&quot;When ink cartridges are cloned or counterfeited, the customer is exposed to quality and potential security risks, compromising the printing experience.&quot; [1]<p>I know there&#x27;s security risks in the printer and in any other thing plugged into a network, but what&#x27;s the security risk in a cartridge? A cartridge can be hacked and then...? Can a cartridge really be owned? What can possibly be done then?<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www8.hp.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;en&#x2F;hp-news&#x2F;blog&#x2F;Small-Business-Printing&#x2F;best-possible-printing-experience.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www8.hp.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;en&#x2F;hp-news&#x2F;blog&#x2F;Small-Business-Printin...</a>

Why bother, just go with the new Epson Eco-Tank printer ET-3600 and you get the ink tanks on the side, basically a continuous ink system. You can buy a gallon off non-epson ink (like Nano Digital brand ink) and literally print color for fractions of a penny per page. Cartridges seem so outdated.

Don&#x27;t care. HP is on my no-buy list until they promise to not do this again. Ever. I don&#x27;t own an HP printer today and I probably now won&#x27;t for a while. DRM stunts like this, the surprise bricking of working hardware, are not forgiven overnight.

My first inkjet printer was a HP Deskjet 500. It was fantastic (for its day and my requirements), robust and seemingly lasted forever. I eventually upgraded to something that did colour, but no printer I&#x27;ve had since, HP or otherwise has ever been as reliable as that old printer.<p>It is sad that I&#x27;m now in a position where I won&#x27;t buy another HP printer while the cloud of them restricting my ink choices lingers.

This headline lacks the words &quot;getting&quot; and &quot;caught&quot;.

I thought I&#x27;d had the inkjet game beat when I saw Epson color printers at Walmart for &lt; $50.<p>Since it cost $50+ for new color and black cartridges I figured I&#x27;d just buy a new printer every time the old one ran out.<p>Sadly new printers come with super small cartridges.

So now will they stop bricking &quot;Genuine HP&quot; cartridges every time I look away from the printer for a few days?

This is normal. I&#x27;d expect the sales of ink cartridges to be a bigger business than the sale of printers itself.

Yes, I want a better user experience. That&#x27;s why I&#x27;m not buying any more HP Inkjets

Good luck the customers will be very happy with your apology. &#x2F;s