In case anyone was thinking this applies only to inkjet printers: no, it ONLY seems to apply to laser printers – the thing that Brother used to be known for. Where the article says “ink”, they mean “toner”. There is no ink in a laser printer.
Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals
Submitted 2 months ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Limonene@lemmy.world 2 months ago
mlemiputty@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Could this be anything related to government printer tracking requirements?
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I believe that only applies to ink jet. You can hardly make secret dots in B&W.
DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s like every company that wasn’t complete shit just suddenly decided to…go to complete shit.
surph_ninja@lemmy.world 2 months ago
If regulators don’t stop them from doing it, the CEO’s of publicly traded companies will get the boot from the board for not doing it. They have a fiduciary duty to be as shitty as humanly possible.
We need laws to stop this, but the politicians are all bribed not to.
grue@lemmy.world 2 months ago
They have a fiduciary duty to be as shitty as humanly possible.
They don’t – that’s a cargo-cult misunderstanding of Dodge v. Ford Motor Co – but it’s so widely believed I guess it might as well be true.
Sturgist@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
It’s like every company that was
n’t completeplaying the social good will game and didn’t appear at a casual glance to be shit just suddenly decided to…goto complete shit.masks off, because they saw it might finally be acceptable to be ghouls again.Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I FTFY. Wish it weren’t so, but that’s definitely what it looks like…
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The mask of humanity fall[s] from capital. It has to take it off to kill everyone – everything you love; all the hope and tenderness in the world. It has to take it off, just for one second. To do the deed.
- Disco Elysium
lone_faerie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
With the current US government, there’s far more roadblocks to running a company ethically than turning it to absolute shit
weirdboy@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Brother is a Japanese company.
Artyom@lemm.ee 2 months ago
The government has mostly turned a blind eye to dark pattern business for years, and now the president is openly saying that he encourages it and wants companies to step up their game. Of course things are going to get worse, especially now where everyone will have forgotten this by the next election, so it’ll get to stay as “the norm”
obinice@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You were the chosen one! 😭
9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
They had two things going for them… Decent linux support and non-shitty DRM ink/toner
Tja@programming.dev 2 months ago
I have a Ricoh that doesn’t give me any problems, works out of the box with Linux pcl6 drivers. Bought a third party toner cartridge like 8 years ago, still using it today. It’s an old model, but worth checking newer ones.
x4740N@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I Remeber something about that being buyitforlife on reddit, would you consider posting it to !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net
mp3@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
I suggest whoever has old firmware files to upload them to the Internet Archive (if they allow those).
datavoid@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Internet Archive is extremely lax in what it allows
YarrMatey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Got this link from reddacted
mega.nz/folder/gjgiXA4Z#VHJqPNUx8wgcPYyfq44zag
Ghyste@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Brother used to be the good guys… Damn.
RejZoR@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Et tu Brother?
noxypaws@pawb.social 2 months ago
These motherfuckers are actively making tech as a whole less secure by destroying any trust the public may have had in firmware updates.
Urgent security fixes are gonna go unpatched on a lot of shit because consumers are seeing more and more firmware or software updates actively making things WORSE.
SacralPlexus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Definitely true. I’ve been putting off an upgrade of my NAS because they have randomly decided to completely remove the video streaming software that came with it when I bought it. So infuriating.
prinzmegahertz@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Tell me you are using synology without telling me you are using synology
ookiiBoy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
That sucks.
btaf45@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Urgent security fixes are gonna go unpatched
I don’t understand why a printer would ever need an “urgent security fix”.
ookiiBoy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
… Because products can contain security exploits, and if not patched could leave homes and businesses vulnerable.
This shouldn’t need to be explained, but here we are.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
Any networked device can be used to gain access to the rest of the network (kind of).
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 2 months ago
And once again the only available good tech is old 2nd hand.
ghostrider2112@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yep. Just getting ready to replace the color laser printer I bought almost 20 years ago. I had been considering a new Brother before this but looks like I’m going the 2nd hand route again (last one was an open box HP from microcenter for $200 lol)
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I got a tiny HP laser from an old job. Must be 15+ years old, runs perfectly and toner is $20 for god knows how many pages.
Quazatron@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Looks like nobody can or is willing to do decent printers anymore. I’ll run my Laserjet 1100 till it dies, then I’m done with printing.
lefixxx@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Brother loosing all competitive advantage they had via reputation. Doing a very big 180 and reversing the changes and commiting to not his BS is the only way to undo this
commander@lemmings.world 2 months ago
They must’ve hired some new analysts that said “hey, people are willing to accept less! Why are we doing more?”
It’s up to the people to prove them wrong, but that usually doesn’t happen :\
Lightsong@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Losing*
skankhunt42@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Nice, Brother was the last one standing in my mind.
I’m glad I have an IoT vlan without internet access. Nothing is allowed to phone home here.
digdilem@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Thats’s a shame, I always considered brother one of the better makers of paper manglers.
jaxxed@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
“You were supposed to be the one”
FilthyHookerSpit@lemmy.world 2 months ago
“YOU WERE MEANT TO DESTROY THE COMPETITION, NOT JOIN THEM”
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Proton, Mozilla, Brother
Its not gonna stop there
😓
ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
Every single company.
All it takes is your favorite company to suddenly be run by a CEO who wants to maximize profits or increase shareholder value. Or in the flip side, they’re fighting for survival so they have to make scummy decisions to keep afloat.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Pro tip: don’t have favorite companies, have favorite products. And don’t assume the next gen of your favorite product will be good.
themaninblack@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Et tu, frater?
Rin@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Foss printer when?
banazir@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Unironically, this is why RMS was radicalized.
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
RMS: gestures at GCC and the whole GNU/Linux ecosystem Look man, all I wanted to do was to print this letter to my ma…
gutter_angel@lemm.ee 2 months ago
i came across this explanation of it, haven’t verified it directly but he seems to make good content:
youtube.com/shorts/ZX8OaZZDlM8
he says theres identification each time you print using the yellow ink, and basically is a counterfeit currency countermeasure
id kill to have a foss print setup though
echodot@feddit.uk 2 months ago
It’s a feature that can be turned on the confidential documents but I don’t think it’s actually on by default.
You can check for it anyway, just print a document then attempt to scan it, if it’s got the track marks it will refuse to scan because one of the things the track marks do is block scanning, although you can still take a photo of it because the camera probably won’t be able to see the track marks so it’s not 100% secure. In fact it’s largely considered an obsolete security method these days, along with pink flimsies.
Rin@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I know about the yellow dot thingy. Literally metadata on paper for no reason imo. I highly doubt a person could make a realistic fake through the use of a conventional printer.
In the UK, we don’t even have paper money anymore, it’s plastic… Maybe it’s more of a USA skill issue, too?
BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 2 months ago
Closest I’ve seen was rooting a printer via a security exploit
match@pawb.social 2 months ago
anyone know about jailbreaking printers
caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
It absolutely baffles me that there isn’t a huge custom printer firmware movement.
NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I’ve have had this thought too and the only reason I can think of is that the inkjet printers are sold at such a rediculous loss, that anything that could be sold next to them without the offset price from ink would seem like a bad joke.
Tja@programming.dev 2 months ago
Ask Richard Stallman ;)
rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 2 months ago
🪴
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
nononononononpnNONONONONONO WHYYYYY I JUST GOT A BROTHER BECAUSE OF HP DOING THE SAME THING WTF
mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
Et tu Brute! :(
MisterFrog@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’m curious how this will go down in Australia. Seems like a pretty solid slam dunk refund, oh the product doesn’t work as advertised anymore?
Cool, I’ve had this for 5 years and now I’d also like a full refund under Australian Consumer Law.
Motherfuckers.
(I don’t actually own a printer)
Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I really hope Brother is telling the truth!
phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
As much as I love the brand, this was just obviously going to happen. It always happens, it’s the eventual outcome. All that is needed is one middle manager wanting to get an extra bones to come up with some short sighted idea that will make a little extra money in the short run and possibly bankrupt the company in the long term.
See Boeing, see Intel, see…
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 2 months ago
And this is why I’ll never connect my working printer to the internet.
Taking a USB stick to it to print is annoying, but fuck this shit.
They’re all horrible companies
AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Going to be honest, didn’t realize my Brother laser printer got firmware updates, lol.
In 7 years I’ve replaced the toner cartridge once, given that the stater cartridge isn’t very full I imagine it’ll be awhile before I have to replace it again, at least.
ChiefGyk3D@infosec.pub 2 months ago
I really wish we had open source 2D printers like we have open source 3D printers. That could solve a lot of the problems I think as we could have an open spec to allow people to do whatever they want. My Prusa doesn’t care what brand filament I want to use, just as long it can drive it, melt it, and lay it down the way I need. Also why is it my 3D printers are more reliable than my 2D printers most days?
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
ink printers are total scams, you might as well use a printing shop or library to do it, if you are planning on printing large number of pages. we got a canon laser jet printer, only need toner cartridge.
OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
This is a total shit move but I have tried many printers and I’m still choosing Brother everytime. Especially on some older generations with copy scan and print.
qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 2 months ago
Brother deny the claims: arstechnica.com/…/brother-denies-using-firmware-u…
flavonol@lemmy.world 2 months ago
If it’s not already under the umbrella of right to repair, do we now need right to refill?
LemmyFeed@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
This shit happened to me recently. Installed firmware update and immediately my 3rd party toner stops working. Try to find old firmware to roll back to and couldn’t locate it anywhere. Found some for other models via Google drive links in Reddit posts, but nothing for my printer.
I replaced the toner with new 3rd party toner which worked. And now I’ll never install another firmware update on the printer and should probably block it from the internet.
Naich@lemmings.world 2 months ago
Oh FFS. Not Brother as well. I used to recommend them to everyone. Who is left with unshittified printers?
nul9o9@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Epson inkjets with refillable tanks probably.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Depending on the frequency of your printing, they can suck as well. Chronically clogged nozzles are maddening.
atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Did they ever make the excess ink parts user replaceable?
That they weren’t in some models kept me from getting one when I was in the market a few years ago.
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
That printer is a nightmare. But financially makes sense.
Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 2 months ago
The printer has the same ink problems, clogged, runs out easy, can’t print b&w when missing a color. But I can buy random ink.
Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
I don’t know if it matters, but I just bought a Canon laser printer. Didn’t see anywhere about forced subscription options for toner.
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
we bought laser canon printer to, toner cartridge doesnt use color, so if you want color you would need an ink printer, its better to print a library or a printer shop anyways.
Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I don’t at all feel vindicated, but my Brother printer is the worst printer I ever owned (this was 20 years ago admittedly). Absolute hunk of junk with nothing but problems. I’ve always wondered why they were so well recommended online.
Naich@lemmings.world 2 months ago
Could have been a Friday afternoon one. The one I have is a workhorse that could print on bark using toner made of charcoal and dust.
Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
I’ve got a Lexmark laser printer, and while there are cheaper subscription toners, you can pay the higher price for normal toner, and buy compatibles, for now at least.
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
you seem to have gotten a smart printer, new ones have that one, we got a canon laser.
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
use a laser printer? preferabally the ones that doesnt use updates or any newer versions.
Meron35@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Kyocera. Also Japanese, and plenty of cheap generic toners available online.
pdqcp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
ill have to recommend buying old refurbished printers