HP has been in this position before, where back in March 2016 the company was caught sending millions of Inkjet and Inkjet Pro printer owners with a fake "security update" that was a ticking time bomb for consumers.
It was only 6 months later that HP's "security update" began rejecting third-party ink, with over 15,000 complaints sent into HP. The company released a statement that didn't really apologize to consumers, with the company linking to a firmware update, something that was hidden on a website that wasn't really used anymore. There was a sign that read "beware of the leopard", and from there you could restore the use of third-party ink on your HP printer. Pretty sh***y of HP, but fast-forward to today and we're back again.
We're nearly at the 12-month anniversary of this story breaking, and HP has been caught yet again with more fake "security" updates for its printer that once again disable third-party ink. Gizmodo reports: "But according to ghacks.net, a new firmware update for HP Officejet printers released yesterday appears to be identical to the reviled DRM update released exactly one year ago. When you try to use third-party ink after installing the new/old firmware, you apparently run into an error that says "One or more cartridges appear to be damaged. Remove them and replace with new cartridges." Depending on how many cartridges your specific printer uses, it may be possible to insert one or two without getting an error. But it seems when all of the ink cartridge slots are filled up, the warning message will be displayed again".
They continue: "The new firmware reportedly affects printers from HP's OfficeJet 6800 series, OfficeJet Pro 6200 series, OfficeJet Pro X 450 series, OfficeJet Pro 8600 series and more. We have reached out to HP for comment and will update this article if and when we hear back".
Sigh. HP is once again treating its consumers like sub-human slaves that are stupid. Pushing out "security" updates like this and expecting consumers and the tech press to never find out is just plain stupid.