Monday, September 16th 2019
HP Printers Try to Send Data Back to HP
Recently in a form of a blog post, software engineer called Robert Heaton, explored the installation and setup of a regular HP printer. However, during the installation process, he found out some alarming things hidden in the install software. When going through the setup process he found a headline called "Data Collection Notice & Settings" where HP states that it tries to collect and send the data you put through the printer back to HP, for purpose of improving advertisement, customer experience, etc.
The software installation began as any normal install, with a "subscribe to our printer ink replacement program" advertisement at the beginning, which is okay because its the way HP supports customers with required ink after the stock one is used up. What seemed off was, in fact, the aforementioned "Data Collection Notice & Settings" part. Here HP intentionally hides the parts which are very important when choosing what information you plan to send back. Instead of immediately being spotted, the list is hidden so a person who isn't very tech-savvy can easily skim through without noticing the little details, making the person consent with data collection. Additionally, the "feature" is turned on by default, but end users can opt in to disable it.
What printer collects is the data from all your apps that make documents. Basically the type of document you are printing (.pdf, .jpeg etc.), time stamps, document size and usage report. HP's privacy statement states that HP doesn't scan the content of documents you are printing, just its features and specifications. Even through your personal data is claimed to be intact, sending data reports isn't just a small thing to ignore.
Source:
Robert Heaton Blog
The software installation began as any normal install, with a "subscribe to our printer ink replacement program" advertisement at the beginning, which is okay because its the way HP supports customers with required ink after the stock one is used up. What seemed off was, in fact, the aforementioned "Data Collection Notice & Settings" part. Here HP intentionally hides the parts which are very important when choosing what information you plan to send back. Instead of immediately being spotted, the list is hidden so a person who isn't very tech-savvy can easily skim through without noticing the little details, making the person consent with data collection. Additionally, the "feature" is turned on by default, but end users can opt in to disable it.
65 Comments on HP Printers Try to Send Data Back to HP
@Chomiq yeah i often wonder about the backdoors with printers, they are connected to the internet/modem for easier printing... def some shady stuff going on I have no doubt.
And my telemetry is better than your telemetry. :roll:
You people need to chill. Not give companies a carte-blanche in all they do (we all know how that plays out), just avoid knee-jerk reactions.
Nah, the fuck em approach doesn't work that well. They say 'fuck you' back and you're left picking up the pieces anyway.
I say, round them up and let them be our first test subjects on Mars. For the greater good. Two birds with one stone, etc.No, they sell ink, not printers ;)
Why does a game need access to your contact list and pictures? :)
The printer driver will scan all your document printed and scanned and _can_ forward them to HP.
Lets imagine that HP will not use the data for illegal purposes. HP can be hacked though and the hacker can.
HP should not send any data.
No need for it and I cannot imagine HP public image will benefit from identifying HP as a hacking company.
Facebook is different. You share your data on Facebook willingly.
Same is valid for google. If you use a browser with no cookies enabled google cannot track either.
However I use google account because I want google to know how I am. That way search results are more accurate for example. I participate willingly and I do know that google will use the information to target ads when I am watching youtube. That way I don't have to watch ads on female products and I do like that.
However I don't trust google with my income tax data or credit card number...
The trouble is Android is hiding some of the rights a game requires (e.g. run on startup, access the network) and is granting those by default. I think you can revoke some of them (but not all) when you browse the game's permissions.
I guess not. :mad:
Anything depending on timers or alarms does.
I'd say phones have more to learn from PC OSes than vice versa.
So with that said, apps on a smartphone shouldn't be running in the background indefinitely; unless of course there's a need to. Obviously apps that would need to be running in the background are apps like music players, maps, alarms, etc. Anything else, when you go back to the home screen or you switch to another app, should be told that it's got X amount of time to finish whatever it's doing and it will be suspended until the user brings the app back onto the screen.
This is essentially what happens on Apple iOS, only apps that have a definite need to run in the background are allowed to run in the background. And background computing permissions isn't something that Apple just gives out to any app, the app developer must present a valid reason to be allowed to run in the background and agree that it's not going to be using overly high resources and that it's not going to be doing anything nefarious. If the said app doesn't have background computing permissions and the user goes to the home screen or to another app, the previous app is told that it's got only a certain amount of time to finish what it's doing and then iOS essentially tells the app to go to sleep; the state of the app is saved and terminated.
It would be an issue if you removed it completely. Some apps truly need it.Fun fact: nearly every smartphone (including ios) runs apps in the background until a low memory condition exists neccesitating they be closed. They don't truly "close" when they leave your screen. They are put on a low priority, but they are there.
Doubletap your apple home button to see the running apps list. To manually close an app, "flick" it away.
Sorry for wrecking your day, but this is precisely why mobile oses have SO much to learn.
Really, in the Windows 95 / 98 / Windows 2000 era we never needed any telemetry or tracking. Yet today with all the telemetry in the OS as a substitute for monitoring performance and what more the amount of BSOD's after a failed update is even bigger then back in that era.
These company's need to stop collecting data, making IOT's out of their devices and simply sell products that furfill the needs of users, printing.
And while apps still crash, the number of times drivers have been able to take down the whole OS has taken a nose dive.
However, I am in no way saying that Windows 10 doesn't have issues. I agree that it does have issues; however, they're not nearly as widespread as some of the clickbaity articles would have you believe. You try writing an OS to run on just about everything from a high-end gaming machine, a cheap Dell, to a Frankenstein-box cobbled together from pieces and parts you found in your attic. Even Apple, who has vertical integration in which they own everything from how the hardware is designed to how the software is written still has issues. If Apple can't do it right 100% of the time and they own the whole platform, how do you expect Microsoft to do it right with an ecosystem with hardware and software permutations that number the stars in the night sky? That's right... you can't.