17 votes

Topic deleted by author

4 comments

  1. [3]
    Algernon_Asimov
    (edited )
    Link
    Crap. I set up our HP printer at home, including installing the required app, without reviewing every single option. Now I'll have to go in and see what we agreed to, and un-agree to it wherever I...

    Crap. I set up our HP printer at home, including installing the required app, without reviewing every single option. Now I'll have to go in and see what we agreed to, and un-agree to it wherever I can.

    You just don't expect a printer to collect personal data beyond what's necessary for debugging ("A document sent to the printer from Adobe Reader didn't print because it was asking for foolscap paper and only A4 paper was loaded."). You don't expect a printer to be collecting data for spam.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      nahkoots
      Link Parent
      I wish that were the case. Nowadays, I expect all proprietary software and hardware I'm forced to use to send every byte of my personal information it can get its hands on back to its parent...

      You just don't expect a printer to collect personal data beyond what's necessary for debugging

      I wish that were the case. Nowadays, I expect all proprietary software and hardware I'm forced to use to send every byte of my personal information it can get its hands on back to its parent country/the NSA/China. That they sometimes give me the option to disable their tracking is of little reassurance. Even if I dutifully uncheck all their boxes, who's to say they don't collect a little more data they didn't deem worthy of being disabled? What if they re-check the boxes while you're not looking, or just ignore them entirely? If I can't see what it's doing under the hood, I have no (practical) way of knowing, and certainly no reason to trust them given their financial incentive to take whatever they can get away with.

      The only devices I connect to the Internet are my computers. Everything else can get its data through them or not at all.

      10 votes
      1. Algernon_Asimov
        Link Parent
        I've seen reports that this is the case with Windows 10: no matter how many of those little consent boxes users un-tick, there's still some data being collected and sent back to Microsoft. That's...

        Even if I dutifully uncheck all their boxes, who's to say they don't collect a little more data they didn't deem worthy of being disabled?

        I've seen reports that this is the case with Windows 10: no matter how many of those little consent boxes users un-tick, there's still some data being collected and sent back to Microsoft. That's not just some minor application you run occasionally, that's the operating system which watches over everything. That's one of the main reasons I've never upgraded past Windows 7, and why I will switch to Linux when support for Windows 7 ends next year.

        There are limits. I will not give permission for my operating system to track everything I do. (I know I'm stuck with it on my Android smartphone, but that's why there are certain things I do only on my main computer, which is not being tracked by some large corporation.)

        4 votes
  2. Akir
    Link
    This doesn't surprise me in the least. HP is on the top of my personal list of manufacturers using unethical designs. Their ink cartridges have DRM built into them and they regularly discontinue...

    This doesn't surprise me in the least. HP is on the top of my personal list of manufacturers using unethical designs. Their ink cartridges have DRM built into them and they regularly discontinue parts that should have long production lives (most notably print heads). In the meanwhile their desktop PC OEM business makes proprietary parts so you have to either buy a new computer or buy components from them if you want to repair or upgrade your computer. Though to be fair, not all of their models are built that way.

    4 votes