The Linux Voice view on what's going on in the world of Free Software
News Analysis
© Simon Phipps is ex-president of the Open Source Initiative and a board member of the Open Rights Group and of Open Source for America.
You don't control that device you think you own.
Opinion
Ownership and IoT
In the Internet of Things (IoT), there's a good chance you no longer really own the things you have paid for. HP recently mounted an impressive demonstration of how and why, with lessons that reach far beyond just smart printers.
On September 13, HP was discovered to have triggered a "feature" in the firmware of their printers to make them refuse to print with ink cartridges that did not pass a check for a valid security chip. That meant that anyone whose printer firmware had previously been updated and who tried to use third-party ink cartridges for their printer found they no longer worked, even if they had before. There were a few reports of "HP original" ink cartridges triggering the lockout as well.
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