HP's CEO Enrique Lores offered pure HP ink as a surefire defense against imaginary cheap ink-borne viruses.
Following up on his earlier idea that price-sensitive customers are "a bad investment," HP CEO Enrique Lores has spun a pretty fantastic tale about viruses embedded in the chips in your ink cartridge. Be scared, Buy HP!
On the segment, Lores claims that HP is crippling the use of cheaper ink and toner cartridges because they're simply worried they will infect consumers with viruses:
"Last Thursday, HP CEO Enrique Lores addressed the company's controversial practice of bricking printers when users load them with third-party ink. Speaking to CNBC Television, he said, "We have seen that you can embed viruses in the cartridges. Through the cartridge, [the virus can] go to the printer, [and then] from the printer, go to the network."
Ars Technica talked to numerous security researchers who laughed at the claim, noting that it's never been meaningfully documented in the wild, and isn't something consumers should be worried about.
Printer manufacturers have a long and proud history of hiding their anti-competitive price gouging under the pretense of user safety and security. In this case, HP cripples printer functionality using its "Dynamic Security System," which stops HP printers from functioning if an ink cartridge without an HP chip or HP electronic circuitry is installed.
TechDirt
I do like my HP 32SII. It is a good calculator.
