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HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

#31

Post by CoastalCoder »

clipsy wrote: post #24
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prison time? For bricking an $80 printer unless you use specific parts? I don't think so. Let's try to stay on planet earth here..

You deliberately misrepresent this as one $80 printer; in reality it is the sum total of all printers bricked by this, plus price gouging the printer owners who don’t want their printer bricked. If even a few dozen printers were bricked by this it would represent more lost value than the threshold for grand larceny in many jurisdictions; do you propose we let people who steal, say, $1600 of goods walk away scot free?…

I'm curious if this violates U.S. code 1030(a)(5) [0]

"(5)

(A)knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer;

(B)intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, recklessly causes damage; or

(C)intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, causes damage and loss.[2]"

[0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030

Re: HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

#32

Post by rahimnathwani »

nubinetwork wrote: post #10
seized wrote: post #6

Time to get a Brother.

Apparently they aren't all that great either... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31860131

Anecdata about the same model:

I have had a Brother MFC-L3750CDW for 3.5 years, and have printed over 5000 pages.

Even though I always use third party toners, I haven't seen that color registration issue.

Just now, I just went to the printer and let it do the 'calibration' and 'registration' steps. Then I printed a test image from the internet. None of the colours are offset.

Re: HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

#36

Post by carlmr »

perihelions wrote: post #15
WalterBright wrote: post #2

Selling something, and then remotely disabling it without the purchaser's knowledge or consent, sounds like vandalism to me.

Sounds like a CFAA felony (unauthorized access) and I couldn't cogently be able to explain why it's not. (Because of a hidden clause in the ToS? Can you hide "we'll install ransomware on your PC" in a software ToS and enforce that, too? What's the very fine distinction between "we'll remotely disable your printer until you pay for exclusive, cryptographically-signed ink", and "we'll remotely encrypt your files and de…

At least in German law anything "surprising" in the ToS can't be enforced. This would definitely be surprising to most. So it couldn't legally be done with ToS.

Re: HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

#37

Post by serf »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #28
clipsy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You deliberately misrepresent this as one $80 printer; in reality it is the sum total of all printers bricked by this, plus price gouging the printer owners who don’t want their printer bricked. If even a few dozen printers were bricked by this it would represent more lost value than the threshold for grand larceny in many jurisdictions; do you propose we let people who steal, say, $1600 of goods walk away scot free?…

Prison seems very extreme to me. But maybe it's appropriate, I don't know.

whats the threshold? how much damage has to occur until a CEO can be held to the same standards as a citizen?

"corporations are people except for all that crime and punishment stuff."

Re: HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

#38

Post by lostlogin »

cubefox wrote: post #11

This issue is discussed for over 20 years now, it baffles me that there is apparently still no established solution. By the way, Apple forcing users to install apps only via its 30% fee AppStore has provoked far less outrage. Probably because people are not directly aware of the Apple premium, in contrast to the HP premium.

Apple would get the outrage if other app stores existed but you risked bricking your phone if you installed apps from them.

Part of the difference here is likely due to Apple primarily penalising the developers (second order effects hit the consumer). If Apple were directly hitting consumers it would be a louder series of protests.

HP are targeting the consumers, not the 3rd party suppliers, which Apple hits.

Re: HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

#39

Post by alanbernstein »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #18
mcny wrote: post #12

The CEO and the board must serve prison time for things like this. No measure less than prison for the CEO and all board members is enough to curtail this because it just becomes the cost of doing business. No, you can’t say it wasn’t your decision. If you want to not be held accountable for the work your employees, contractors, and agents do on your behalf, you should have to prove they acted against your express wr…

Prison time? For bricking an $80 printer unless you use specific parts? I don't think so. Let's try to stay on planet earth here..

Ink isn't a "part".
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