"We have seen that you can embed viruses into cartridges, through the cartridge go to the printer, from the printer go to the network."

If this is true, then HP's printers are dangerously insecure by design.

> If this is true, then HP's printers are dangerously insecure by design.

They are, but HP need the chip in there so that they can detect if you use non-HP cartridges.

"They might even stop your printer working unless you pay a ransom. That's the kind of flagrant ripping off of our IP we need to stamp out.", added the CEO...

> because you're locking that person, committing to a longer-term relationship.

I'm surprised that these people don't choose their wording a little more carefully.

Firstly, because is sounds suspiciously like explicit, monopolistic behaviour.

Secondly, because it sounds like an abusive, predatory relationship rather than one built on loyalty and symbiosis.

I really do wonder how many of these C-suite types are literally psychopathic...

On the psychopath angle, here is a link (one of many, apologies it is the daily mail) that indicates that psychopaths index fingers are longer than the wedding ring finger.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12965503/Is-index-finger-shorter-ring-finger-PSYCHOPATH-scientists-say.html

I've been looking at the political programmes on TV to see if the Tory MPs hands have their index finger longer than the wedding ring finger.

So far, it is 10/10 that Tories are psychopaths.

:O)

Biologist here, ring finger length relative to index is an indicator of testosterone exposure in the womb, with a direct correlation to athletic performance.

E.g. longer ring fingers are faster sprinters, which the Fail article confirms.

Sounds like the psychologists were trying to fit their argument to the data, it was a tiny sample size.

So, is Usain Bolt a psychopath?

That's an odd use of the word "investment", unless printer hardware is a loss-leader to get users to buy consumables. And in that case, I'd use the word "con", making customers think they're getting a good deal when the cost per page is a rip off.

The IP argument is pretty weak too, the ink formulation or delivery system may be IP but they're not checking for that, they're checking for a HP-branded chip. If I want to put cheap ink in MY printer and run the risk of wrecking it, that's between me and the ink supplier.

I can definitely reassure HP that they need not worry in the slightest about wasting any of their investment capital on me. I will not, at any time, ever be buying an HP printer.

And that's despite the fact that I usually do buy the manufacturer's ink for printers, because I just don't trust what random crap has been put into a cartridge by a "manufacturer" whose company name is a randomly assigned string of 5 letters...

There are many perfectly reputable brands of third-party ink/toner that have been around for many years, selling quality products that work just as well as manufacturer-branded products at a fraction of the cost. Yes, on a site like Amazon or other marketplaces where anybody can sell anything, you'll find a lot of junk that is even cheaper from companies that were just registered 3 days ago and won't exist 2 days from now, but there are also good third-party brands there as well as brands that have their own sites.

There is virtually no manufacturer-branded ink/toner that is priced to match the quality difference that it may have over third-party ink (10% better quality doesn't even deserve 25% higher price, let alone 300%), at least in the consumer space and for businesses just printing random items that don't need to be perfect or last forever. Obviously niche applications use specialized ink/toner with special requirements which third-party makers might not meet due to the added costs and low volume. The simple fact that liquid ink will dry out if not used regularly, often disabling the printer itself, makes it absolutely stupid to spend extra for manufacturer-branded ink (beyond the poor value of inkjet to start with).

I bought a color HP printer back around 2006 on sale for under $400. Today a set of official HP toner cartridges would come to $1100. A set of refilled cartridges is about $200. Crazy price spread. I've had a few problem cartridges over the years so I've been keeping a few known good ones around to swap out rollers and the printer is still doing fine after 22,000 pages. I think toner is priced for businesses who are less likely to care since they can use it as an expense for tax purposes.

HP was still selling reasonably good printer products around that time period, at least laser printers. Ones that weren't deliberately crippled, designed to be discarded after a short period of use, or sold at a loss to make it up on the consumables (though the supplies were still overpriced), and they were never modified to disable third-party supplies. People are still buying and using Laserjet 5 monochrome printers, first introduced in the mid-90s, and there are still replacement parts made for them. And their print quality is exactly as good as new model monochrome printers, just not up to the speed of good new ones.

You are probably due for an imaging drum replacement, though, if you haven't changed that before. :-)

2d owner of my LJ5. It was abandoned on the doorstep of a law office in town, free for the taking (which I did).

I watched Youtube, ordered a replacement fuser assy ($150) and drive gears ($30), upgraded the RAM and installed a JetDirect network card I found on eBay ($15) and a new (refilled) toner cartridge. Thing has been printing like a champ for several years, always there when I need it, draws 7W on standby. I have not yet used up the first cartridge I bought, but I have three more sealed NOS I bought at Goodwill for $15 each. The thing, I am positive, will outlive me.

LJ5 (and LJ4) printers were so amazing and ubiquitous that just about every current printer will work just fine if you use the LaserJet 5 driver to print to them. Just without any special features or specific controls.

Surely it's already been introduced by HP? And the way to stop anyone else introducing it is very simple: don't include parts in the cartridge that the printer needs to talk to.

Even if the cartridge does have a chip that is used to identify whether it's HP-branded or not, WHY should any of the code in the printer EXECUTE any code from the chip?! Why should it get loaded into memory in any way that is transmitted to the computer?! Why should the printer driver be able to load a VIRUS onto the computer?

"Our objective is to make printing as easy as possible, and our long-term objective is to make printing a subscription."

Unsubscribe.

The problem is not with 3rd party reprogrammable chips.

The problem is with the nutjobs that thought that joining an ink cartridge with a chip was a good idea in the first place.

It's ink. It doesn't need a chip.

Not unless you're a Nazi.

On the one hand, HP should let me use whatever I want in their printers. On the other hand, every refilled toner cartridge I've ever bought turned out to be complete junk -- I was usually lucky to get 1/4 the service life for 2/3 the price of a "genuine" cartridge. So I just can't get too worked up about this, given that refilled cartridges seem to be complete scams.

Don't put a chip on the cartridge! Make them like my Brother MFC-240c, which uses "cartridges" that are just little ink tanks, no electronics at all.

Of course, I put in aftermarket cartridges that cost me $1 each instead of the $15 official ones.

They could do this, but it would require a considerable correction of their business model, namely:

1. Make and sell a good-quality printer, at an appropriate cost (manufacturing cost + profit)

2. Make and sell ink at a sane cost

The tank talks to the printer which talks to the the print driver and onto the client-side app. That then checks with HQ to make sure you're being a good boy.

Yep, I can totally see why that could be described as a virus - and I can also totally see a certain manufacturer designing their products to take full advantage of it for financial gain. Way to go Enrique Lores; you win the Internet today for making it clear to us all!