How can HP block me from using a cheaper printer cartridge?
I bought my usual recycled toner cartridge for my HP LaserJet printer. When I installed it I got a message telling me that printing was blocked as it was not an HP cartridge. It turns out that, in the last few weeks, HP has updated the printer firmware (without asking) to stop the use of non-HP cartridges. This means I will have to pay an extra 30% for my toner cartridges. What’s going on? PW, Argyll & Bute
I think I can answer that in a single word: profiteering. That’s not how HP describes it. Altruism is the excuse it prefers. It tells me the practice it calls “dynamic security” is “to enhance the overall printing experience for our customers”.
Banning cartridges made by any other manufacturer increases printing quality and security protection, it claims. An alternative is confessed on its customer support page, where it states: “The purpose of dynamic security feature is to protect HP’s innovations and intellectual property.”
Dynamic security has been introducing restrictions to cartridges, unbeknownst to printer owners, during firmware updates since 2016. Users, who have relied for years on cheaper brands of ink, are now forced to ditch them, used or unused, and pay a premium for HP’s own. The ramifications of this kind of protectionism are significant. It’s like disabling an electric toothbrush if a customer doesn’t use Colgate.
It seems to get worse. GOS of Boothby Pagnall, Lincolnshire, reports that his HP printer is suddenly rejecting HP cartridges that are deemed out of date. “I never even realised there was such a thing as a ‘best before’ date on inks,” he writes. “I’m sure I am not the only one who bulk buys, only to have them expire before they are used. One I replaced yesterday cost £45.”
The extraordinary
Read more on theguardian.com
