GREENSBORO, N.C. - It's easy to see why you might want to buy generic ink. A name brand black cartridge costs about $18, but the generic version is about half of that. But some Epson printer users have posted online that "after firmware update, cartridges not recognized." The generic versions stop working. Writing: "This is despicable. Their business practices are predatory and should be illegal."
It's not just Epson, the blog Extreme Tech says HP inkjet printers have also issued a "stealth firmware update" to block third party ink cartridges in the past.
You might be thinking, "just skip the updates!" That works if you have an older printer , but newer ones that print wirelessly need the security upgrades. Otherwise tech experts say hackers could use that venerable printer to get access to your whole home system including your computer and even phone. That means they can learn a lot about you to steal your money and Identity.
2 Wants To Know reached out to the printer companies about these updates. Epson said the updates were "to ensure that the printer operates as designed." We haven't heard back from HP by the time this article was published. But they have said online before that the update is "for security reasons."