HP Ruining Their Printers By Restricting Third-Party Ink Cartridges

HP have decided to prove how their printers are awful by releasing a firmware update that blocks third-party Ink.

HP Blocks Third-Party Ink

HP has restricted users from using third-party inks and rival companies’ inks in their printers through a firmware update causing the printers to fully refuse to print. Previously HP had displayed a warning message for when non-HP ink was used but users were still able to print however now they’ve gone full send with their proprietary rubbish. A representative from HP spoke to the Telegraph and explained that this change was to reduce the risk of malware attacks and stated: “Third-party cartridges that use non-HP chips or circuitry can pose risks to the hardware performance, print quality, and security.” As it turns out this change isn’t only aimed at security concerns but also the obvious that most of us assumed preventing competition. It is stated on HP’s website that they block the use of rival cartridges in order to “maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property”.

Terrible Ideas From HP

All this tells me is to never buy an HP printer so I won’t be stuck in only buying their ink rather than having the choice of cheaper options. These “security” measures which were introduced back in 2014 and were met with scrutiny straight away are probably just a terrible excuse to get people to exclusively buy their expensive ink cartridges.

What do you think of HP’s practices? Let us know in the comments.