Dymo joins the DRM club

[madires]

If you're looking for a new label printer you might want to avoid Dymo because their new printers require original Dymo labels with RFID based DRM. Alternative labels (much less expensive) won't work.

From EFF: The Worst Timeline: A Printer Company Is Putting DRM in Paper Now (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/worst-timeline-printer-company-putting-drm-paper-now)

[SiliconWizard]

That would even deserve going to the dodgy tech section.

[PKTKS]

That would even deserve going to the dodgy tech section.

usually ..    I put these in the latrine flush section...

flushed a ton of these ... latest decades... (fill blanks...)

Paul

[coromonadalix]

   R.I.P

[MrMobodies]

One thing I can't stand is a piece of equipment/tool that is set to spy on everything I do and then work against me where I have absolutely no control:

Those people are going to be disappointed. Dymo’s latest generation of desktop label printers use RFID chips to authenticate the labels that Dymo’s customers put in their printers.

So when they stop selling paper for one of those printers and can no longer be used because the DRM locks the owner out of using compatibles wouldn't that end up as a brick and a waste to the environment?

I remembered when HP tried something like this with compatible inks in 2016 through a firmware update but reverted:

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/236476-hp-will-restore-third-party-ink-cartridge-compatibility-for-now-reserves-right-to-revoke-it-in-the-future

HP backtracks on third-party ink cartridges, reserves right to lock them out it in the future
By Joel Hruska on September 29, 2016 at 9:45 am

HP came under fire last week when a firmware update it pushed out six months ago kicked in and locked out third-party ink cartridges for a number of the company’s OfficeJet printers. The move surprised and infuriated several thousand people who suddenly found themselves with malfunctioning printers, who promptly blasted the company for its actions. Now, HP is walking back its new firmware — but it won’t promise not to reactivate it at a later time.

[SiliconWizard]

That implies you don't really own the product you buy anymore. See how it's a trend I've been evoking in a couple posts already. 

[MrMobodies]

That implies you don't really own the product you buy anymore.

Which is why I am scared to buy anything new.

Most of the time I find something that I don't like and I am put off instantly.

If I don't have rights to use it whenever I want I'd rather not buy it.

[amyk]

That implies you don't really own the product you buy anymore. See how it's a trend I've been evoking in a couple posts already. 

"You will own nothing, and be happy". "The Great Reset". Search and read. They only call it a conspiracy theory because they don't want you to know the truth.

[Alti]

Which is why I am scared to buy anything new.

Over time I have noticed I buy more and more used items instead of new ones.

The cost of being bitten, the risk of some DRM gotcha, proprietary component or difficulty in accessing repair documentation just discourages me from buying new stuff. I do not trust sellers, I do not need cutting edge technology, I am not interested in being a guinea pig. I let others do the job of Beta testers. Once the item costs 10% of the original purchase price, gains reputation, the market is flooded with replacement parts, google returns hundreds of DIY links, then this is the right moment for shopping. If it is not DIY serviceable - I do not want it.

[voltsandjolts]

Agree with all the above sentiments.

While technology is being used to improve products in some user-positive aspects, it's also increasingly being used to lock us in and screw us over.

There is the niche concept of ad-sponsored product pricing, like Amazon does with kindle - pay a little more for your kindle to avoid getting ads in your user experience. At least its open and honest. Many smart TVs leave no option but to use pi-hole to dispense with intrusive ads. In summary, I mean at least give us a (cheaper) locked-in price or a more expensive (up-front) option to not be locked in or have forced advertising.

[SiliconWizard]

If I don't have rights to use it whenever I want I'd rather not buy it.

The only way we can ever hope reversing this trend is indeed not to buy from those companies that pull off this trick. The moment we do, we are becoming part of it and encouraging it.
Merely complaining (but buying anyway) is not going to help - it's only going to make it worse.

If you think about it, getting customers to buy some product that they are not completely convinced about is marketing genius. That's the point where selling becomes so easy that you can sell absolutely anything to almost anyone even without their completely full consent - on some level. Fascinating times.

[SilverSolder]

There's no question that some corporations strongly prefer their clients to rent rather than buy their products.  That way, the client becomes a revenue stream over a long time and never gets the benefit of owning the means of production, so to speak.

Most people don't have the knowledge/skills to foresee the "gotchas" that are being increasingly baked into new products.


The one item of good news is this:  since rental is so much more expensive than ownership, people will eventually hit the brick wall of not having enough income to keep adding new rentals to their budget...  that's when even the dimmest bulb in the room will come around to looking for things they can actually buy, own, and benefit from!

[bob91343]

It's been going on forever.  Advertising keeps becoming more deceptive and aggressive.  Clean your house for $9.  Try this simple trick and you will [insert promise here].  The list is endless.  The advertising people are our enemies; make no mistake.  A company makes a good product and then goes public; that's the end.  Honesty and integrity have left us long ago.

A piece of test equipment used to work when you switched it on.  Now it has to go through self test and if it fails you can't use the instrument.

[SilverSolder]

It's been going on forever.  Advertising keeps becoming more deceptive and aggressive.  Clean your house for $9.  Try this simple trick and you will [insert promise here].  The list is endless.  The advertising people are our enemies; make no mistake.  A company makes a good product and then goes public; that's the end.  Honesty and integrity have left us long ago.

A piece of test equipment used to work when you switched it on.  Now it has to go through self test and if it fails you can't use the instrument.

I agree with a lot of what you said.  - What is wrong with a test instrument running a self test and halting if something is wrong? -  do you mean if a DMM fails in the Ohms range it won't let you use it in the Volts or Amps ranges, for example?

[PKTKS]

There's no question that some corporations strongly prefer their clients to rent rather than buy their products.  That way, the client becomes a revenue stream over a long time and never gets the benefit of owning the means of production, so to speak.

Most people don't have the knowledge/skills to foresee the "gotchas" that are being increasingly baked into new products.


The one item of good news is this:  since rental is so much more expensive than ownership, people will eventually hit the brick wall of not having enough income to keep adding new rentals to their budget...  that's when even the dimmest bulb in the room will come around to looking for things they can actually buy, own, and benefit from!

This is truth..   and it has the overall hidden clauses that while they are renting you - by no means letting you have access to the tools and ownership -  they are also using you and all your data and taking out your privacy to make collateral money  as well..

With ads with profile portfolio ad etc_et_al..

By no means paid hardware like modern computers should have their use bricked like some gizmos are doing...  Android and all apple gizmos (claimed and paid as supercomputers) had their use bricked by default...

Have you notice what a mess a console is inside Android ?
believe it  or not that is still a Linux kernel...  unrecognizable though

Try to open a console in any Android to see how crippled a state of the art CPU and GPU can be under these clauses of use..
Paul

[SilverSolder]

There's no question that some corporations strongly prefer their clients to rent rather than buy their products.  That way, the client becomes a revenue stream over a long time and never gets the benefit of owning the means of production, so to speak.

Most people don't have the knowledge/skills to foresee the "gotchas" that are being increasingly baked into new products.


The one item of good news is this:  since rental is so much more expensive than ownership, people will eventually hit the brick wall of not having enough income to keep adding new rentals to their budget...  that's when even the dimmest bulb in the room will come around to looking for things they can actually buy, own, and benefit from!

This is truth..   and it has the overall hidden clauses that while they are renting you - by no means letting you have access to the tools and ownership -  they are also using you and all your data and taking out your privacy to make collateral money  as well..

With ads with profile portfolio ad etc_et_al..

By no means paid hardware like modern computers should have their use bricked like some gizmos are doing...  Android and all apple gizmos (claimed and paid as supercomputers) had their use bricked by default...

Have you notice what a mess a console is inside Android ?
believe it  or not that is still a Linux kernel...  unrecognizable though

Try to open a console in any Android to see how crippled a state of the art CPU and GPU can be under these clauses of use..
Paul

What do you see, a ton of processes using a ton of CPU all without your permission and not doing stuff in your best interests?

[SilverSolder]

Sticking to the topic of Dymo:   It is too bad they went down this route, obviously when it is time to update my label printers, this company will be off the list.

[TERRA Operative]

I wonder if you could do a Keurig and pull the RFID chip out of the cartridge and stick it in the Dymo to make it think there's always a genuine cartridge installed.

I'll be sticking with my Brother printers in any case.

[PKTKS]

(..)
What do you see, a ton of processes using a ton of CPU all without your permission and not doing stuff in your best interests?

i got a much much bad impression than that...

Try for example to see how the "ownership" of things are handled...

Just following how things are mounted  doing a simple mount (which is included by default in the weird path) ... and if you can use adb a lsblk and lsblk -a ...

The weirdest thing you can see happens when you have applets moved to sdcard..
It is a total messy crazy shit... I am sure some folk behind this can explain the rationale for that...
but the sake of buying a crippled device... best CPU/GPU with a *NIX kernel like.. that..

just a **** piece of **** 

Paul

[bob91343]

Many instruments, should they not pass self test, will not go into any useful mode.  Thus, the unit becomes worthless without some unknown, probably too expensive, repair.

I never had this problem with old school instruments.  Self test is an excuse to make more money.

[MrMobodies]

Sticking to the topic of Dymo:   It is too bad they went down this route, obviously when it is time to update my label printers, this company will be off the list.

Well hopefully if enough people start avoiding their DRM product obsolescent printers they might even go into obsolescence themselves.

[bitwelder]

I wonder if you could do a Keurig and pull the RFID chip out of the cartridge and stick it in the Dymo to make it think there's always a genuine cartridge installed.

I'm waiting to see some deeper analysis of how technically the DRM is achieved, but I wonder if the RFID chip is only to verify the genuineness of the cartridge, or also e.g. to count how many meters of tape is still left (i.e. it's useless once the cartridge gets empty)

[madires]

From https://www.dymo.com/label-makers-printers/labelwriter-label-printers/dymo-labelwriter-550-label-printer/SAP_2112552.html:

AUTOMATIC LABEL RECOGNITION: Label printer lets you see the size, type, and number of remaining labels at a glance

[SiliconWizard]

The automatic label recognition is fine... The DRM part is not. =)