Shit. They’ve realized the err of making high quality products with long lasting, universal ink. Capitalism blows
Nooooooo I thought they were the ones NOT doing that. That was kind of their USP for me…
It was only a matter of time, there isn’t enough competition in the market to punish such actions.
Why does my printer need any connection to the internet ever? WTF does it need “firmware” for that is not related to criminal stalking and data collection? This sounds as stupid as IoT toasters and toilets.
Everything with a processor has firmware. Unless you’re running a screw type press to print from your PC then your printer has firmware.
Obviously, but a state machine is not a filesystem as the connectedness implies
Outdated firmware about to be a top torrent of the week lmao
I was recently considering replacing my color laser printer from 2006…sounds like I’m keeping it a little longer. It’s coincidentally made by brother, but I doubt they’re updating that firmware anytime soon.
Best advice I can give about printers: If it works out of the box, it doesn’t need a firmware update. Firmware updates for printers are only ever to screw third-party competition. I’ve owned my printer for years, and it’s still in its OTB state. Coincidentally, I’ve never had a problem using third-party ink.
So that’s why my printer nags me to update firmware.
God fucking damnit, same shit different shitty company. Thanks for informing, I’ll never recommend this brand again.
Asking because I know nothing of programming, how hard would it be to write a new firmware for a printer?
This is being widely reported, but I still haven’t been able to figure out exactly what printers and what firmwares this is applying to. I’ve got a brother laser printer, but it’s been unplugged for a few weeks now as I moved around my home office. I do usually use it on wi-fi for wireless network printing, but I haven’t tapped update on it for months. I would like to know what I should look for to identify if this is an issue for me.
Obviously I’ve got a few possible scenarios: 1 - my printer is updated past this firmware already: A. I can only buy brother toner B. I figure out to downgrade, which sounds tricky. C. I buy a new(old) printer? 2 - my printer isn’t updated: A. I turn off network functions on it entirely, printing using the USB port or with a USB cable. B. I block internet access on my network, but allow it to work locally. This is potentially risky if i do setup wrong or change my network config and forget about it. C. I say fuck it and only buy brother toner since it’s probably going to impact pricing either way
I’d put it behind a closed firewall with logging enabled. Your home router might be able to do this even. Then you can see if it’s trying to connect to the Internet beyond NTP without you clicking “update”.
I have a pi-hole. And my asus router can probably close all outbound traffic. I also think USB printing is fine tbh. I don’t need AirPrint.
Then you should do exactly that before it has the opportunity to download an “improved” firmware. Maybe create a DHCP reservation and matching firewall rule before connecting it to the home network. Good luck!
Brother eww.
All corporations are out to exploit you any way possible. None of them are to be trusted to behave in an ethical manner.
