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Canon Ink DRM: Difference between revisions

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== Overview ==
== Overview ==
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a practice used by many major printer manufacturers including HP<ref>https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/11/23635168/hp-printer-update-brick-third-party-ink-dynamic-security</ref>, Dymo<ref>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/worst-timeline-printer-company-putting-drm-paper-now</ref>, Lexmark<ref>https://www.vice.com/en/article/hp-remotely-kills-perfectly-good-ink-cartridge-with-drm/</ref> and Canon. The manufacturers include silicon chips as part of the ink cartridges that can identify a cartridge as coming directly from the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) as opposed to an aftermarket (usually much cheaper) alternative. When aftermarket cartridges are inserted, some printers will display a message suggesting the supposed dangers of using non-genuine ink and have in the past outright disabled functionality.<ref>https://www.wired.com/2016/09/hp-printer-drm/</ref>
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a practice used by many major printer manufacturers including HP<ref>https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/11/23635168/hp-printer-update-brick-third-party-ink-dynamic-security</ref>, Dymo<ref>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/worst-timeline-printer-company-putting-drm-paper-now</ref>, Lexmark<ref>https://www.vice.com/en/article/hp-remotely-kills-perfectly-good-ink-cartridge-with-drm/</ref> and Canon. The manufacturers include silicon chips as part of the ink cartridges that can identify a cartridge as coming directly from the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) as opposed to an aftermarket (often cheaper) alternative. When aftermarket cartridges are inserted, some printers will display a message suggesting the supposed dangers of using non-genuine ink and have in the past disabled device functionality when aftermarket ink is installed.<ref>https://www.wired.com/2016/09/hp-printer-drm/</ref>


== Incident ==
== Incident ==
During the global chip shortage from 2020-2023, Canon faced difficulty obtaining chips used in their printer ink cartridges. This resulted in genuine Canon ink cartridges appearing as if they were aftermarket cartridges when inserted to some Canon printers. A support page<ref>Original: [https://www.canon.de/support/business/interim-toner/ Canon Support - Germany] Archived Dec 31st 2023: [https://web.archive.org/web/20231231021849/https://www.canon.de/support/business/interim-toner/ archive.org]</ref> on the Canon website was created instructing customers to ignore the warning/error messages that appeared as a result, stating this would cause "no negative effects on print quality".
During the global chip shortage from 2020-2023, Canon faced difficulty obtaining chips used in their printer ink cartridges. This resulted in genuine Canon ink cartridges behaving as if they were aftermarket cartridges when inserted to some Canon printers. A support page<ref>Original: [https://www.canon.de/support/business/interim-toner/ Canon Support - Germany] Archived Dec 31st 2023: [https://web.archive.org/web/20231231021849/https://www.canon.de/support/business/interim-toner/ archive.org]</ref> on the Canon website was created instructing customers to ignore the warning/error messages that appeared as a result, stating this would cause "no negative effects on print quality".


== Aftermath ==
== Aftermath ==
The publishing of support material directly from Canon instructing customers to ignore the warning against aftermarket print cartridges drew attention on social media and from tech news outlets who considered the practice one that "consumers have long condemned as being anti-competitive"<ref>https://gizmodo.com/printer-cartridge-debacle-forces-canon-to-tell-customer-1848332901</ref> with Vice stating: "as consumers and digital rights activists have been pointing out for ages, Canon essentially admits that its own DRM is absolutely not necessary, writing that “there is no negative impact on print quality when using consumables without electronic components.”<ref>https://www.vice.com/en/article/canon-tells-customers-to-break-its-printer-cartridge-drm-due-to-chip-shortage/</ref>
The publishing of support material directly from Canon instructing customers to ignore the warning against aftermarket print cartridges drew attention on social media and from tech news outlets who considered the practice one that "consumers have long condemned as being anti-competitive"<ref>https://gizmodo.com/printer-cartridge-debacle-forces-canon-to-tell-customer-1848332901</ref> with Vice stating: "as consumers and digital rights activists have been pointing out for ages, Canon essentially admits that its own DRM is absolutely not necessary”<ref>https://www.vice.com/en/article/canon-tells-customers-to-break-its-printer-cartridge-drm-due-to-chip-shortage/</ref>.


== References ==
== References ==
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<references />

Latest revision as of 14:06, 16 January 2025

Overview[edit | edit source]

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a practice used by many major printer manufacturers including HP[1], Dymo[2], Lexmark[3] and Canon. The manufacturers include silicon chips as part of the ink cartridges that can identify a cartridge as coming directly from the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) as opposed to an aftermarket (often cheaper) alternative. When aftermarket cartridges are inserted, some printers will display a message suggesting the supposed dangers of using non-genuine ink and have in the past disabled device functionality when aftermarket ink is installed.[4]

Incident[edit | edit source]

During the global chip shortage from 2020-2023, Canon faced difficulty obtaining chips used in their printer ink cartridges. This resulted in genuine Canon ink cartridges behaving as if they were aftermarket cartridges when inserted to some Canon printers. A support page[5] on the Canon website was created instructing customers to ignore the warning/error messages that appeared as a result, stating this would cause "no negative effects on print quality".

Aftermath[edit | edit source]

The publishing of support material directly from Canon instructing customers to ignore the warning against aftermarket print cartridges drew attention on social media and from tech news outlets who considered the practice one that "consumers have long condemned as being anti-competitive"[6] with Vice stating: "as consumers and digital rights activists have been pointing out for ages, Canon essentially admits that its own DRM is absolutely not necessary”[7].

References[edit | edit source]