Want to put an end to the expensive lock-in of print cartridges? Researchers hack DRM in what could be a new dawn for print fans
Hackers have found a new way to bypass the strict digital rights management (DRM) rules imposed on HP printers. This allows users to refill old and empty cartridges and continue printing without having to spend extra money on new, original cartridges.
Here’s some background: HP is reportedly selling printers at a loss. To make up for this, the company sells ink cartridges at high prices, which infuriates users. As a result, users turned to third-party ink cartridge manufacturers. HP responds by integrating chips into the cartridges, rendering third-party products useless.
Users respond by refilling old cartridges instead of purchasing new cartridges from third parties. HP responds by adding a page limiter: the printer starts counting how many pages the user prints, and then simply stops working when a certain page number is reached.
Add a chip to the cartridge
As reported by Tom’s hardwarea YouTube creator named Jay Summet demonstrated how he added a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) to the cartridge’s original contacts and then routed the signal passing through it to a chip.
The signal is changed there and tells the printer that the page limit has not yet been reached. The modified signal is then routed to a different set of contacts, causing the printer to “think” it is getting the information from an original cartridge.
Whether the crack in the HP printer community will widen or not remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: users clearly do not approve of HP’s current business model and will always find new ways to work around it. In the meantime, HP has a few lawsuits against printer DRM to deal with, the publication reminds.
Perhaps the company will be legally forced to stop this practice and find another business model, even if it means creating more expensive models.