SoylentNews

canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

The infamous maker of over-priced ink cartridges, HP, has been using digital restrictions management (DRM) technology to further increase the price of its cartridges. HP has started remotely disabling printing unless an ongoing monthly fee is paid [reclaimthenet.org]. Apparently the printers also reporting back to HP about their use. Apparently the printers report on the document types being printed and HP even bases the fee on remote monitoring of the number of pages printed each month.

Sullivan said he only discovered this when he became aware he was billed $4.99 per month by HP and, and not knowing what Instant Ink was, cancel the charge.

But he was in for a rude awakening: the otherwise properly functioning ink cartridges had been remotely disabled to stop accepting ink. In other words, Sullivan found out that all the while, he had been merely “subscribed” to the printer he thinks he “owns.”

“Cartridge cannot be used until printer is enrolled in HP Instant Ink,” Sullivan was informed.

It turns out that HP requires its customers to enroll HP Instant Ink eligible printers into one of the Instant Ink plans, and continue paying a monthly subscription in order to be allowed to use the device.

Additionally, the HP cartridges have been locked to specific printers [tonergiant.co.uk] for quite a while now.

Earlier on SN:
US Customers Kick Up Class-Action Stink Over Epson's Kyboshing of Third-Party Ink [soylentnews.org] (2019)
Xerox Is No More [soylentnews.org] (2018)
Meg Whitman Resigns [soylentnews.org] (2017)
Supreme Court Lets Consumers Refill Ink Cartridges [soylentnews.org] (2017)
HP to Issue “Optional Firmware Update” Allowing 3rd-Party Ink [soylentnews.org] (2016)

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