Brother printers causing issues with third party inks: Difference between revisions
→User evidence & reports: added mention of this incident on GNU website |
Bythmusters (talk | contribs) m added cargo |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{IncidentCargo | |||
|Company=Brother Industries Ltd. | |||
|StartDate= | |||
|EndDate= | |||
|Status= | |||
|ProductLine= | |||
|Product= | |||
|ArticleType= | |||
|Type=Third-party | |||
|Description= | |||
}} | |||
[[Brother Industries Ltd.|'''Brother''']] is a printer company that has allowed the use of third-party toner cartridges with their printer devices. Recent firmware updates have changed this practice by displaying an error message when consumers attempt to install their third-party toner that was previously allowed. When using the Brother printer with the toner of their choice, some users report a significant decrease in print quality, functionally disabling the printer unless OEM toner is installed.<ref name="reddit" /> | [[Brother Industries Ltd.|'''Brother''']] is a printer company that has allowed the use of third-party toner cartridges with their printer devices. Recent firmware updates have changed this practice by displaying an error message when consumers attempt to install their third-party toner that was previously allowed. When using the Brother printer with the toner of their choice, some users report a significant decrease in print quality, functionally disabling the printer unless OEM toner is installed.<ref name="reddit" /> | ||
| Line 27: | Line 38: | ||
*Users have noticed that Brother's printers do accept third-party toner instead of outright rejection. This leads some to suspect the consequential loss of print quality may be a deliberate act. One user stated: | *Users have noticed that Brother's printers do accept third-party toner instead of outright rejection. This leads some to suspect the consequential loss of print quality may be a deliberate act. One user stated: | ||
<blockquote>''Brother seems to be apparently accepting the ink, but then purposefully making the print quality poorer.''<ref name="hackernews" /></blockquote> | <blockquote>''Brother seems to be apparently accepting the ink, but then purposefully making the print quality poorer.''<ref name="hackernews" /></blockquote> | ||
===Free Software Foundation === | ===Free Software Foundation=== | ||
*FSF has listed this incident under the "Installing, deleting or disabling programs" in "Proprietary Back Doors" chapter<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-14 |title=Proprietary Back Doors |url=https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251218062339/https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.html |archive-date=2025-12-18 |access-date=2025-12-18 |website=GNU Operating System}}</ref>: | *FSF has listed this incident under the "Installing, deleting or disabling programs" in "Proprietary Back Doors" chapter<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-14 |title=Proprietary Back Doors |url=https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.html#install-delete |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251218062339/https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.html |archive-date=2025-12-18 |access-date=2025-12-18 |website=GNU Operating System}}</ref>: | ||
<blockquote>When connected to the internet, some Brother printers suffer a firmware downgrade that degrades the printing quality when using third-party toner. This proves that these printers have a back door which lets Brother control them. | <blockquote>When connected to the internet, some Brother printers suffer a firmware downgrade that degrades the printing quality when using third-party toner. This proves that these printers have a back door which lets Brother control them. | ||
| Line 79: | Line 90: | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
*[[HP Dynamic Security| | *[[HP Dynamic Security|HP Dynamic Security]] | ||
*[[Brother DCP-L3550CDW aftermarket toner failure]] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||