HP slammed as their printers now “scrape” data from users & people are in disbelief

The launch of HP’s new subscription service for printers has been met with outrage as users realize it allows the company to spy on them.

Technology company HP has just launched its new subscription service that allows users to ‘rent’ a printer. The service price ranges from $6.99 a month with a base model HP Envy printer, up to $35.99 a month for a HP OfficeJet Pro. The subscription allows users a set number of printed pages per month and delivers ink when it begins to run low, as well as access to 24/7 support. The service comes with a big catch, however.

As reported by ArsTechnica, those using the All-In-Plan subscription will need to have their printer constantly connected to the internet. Furthermore, users have noticed a disturbing clause in the Terms of Service. Namely, a clause that says HP can scrape your data. The All-In-Plan subscription service privacy policy has a section that says that HP may: “Transfer information about you to advertising partners and combine information about you with information from other companies in data sharing cooperatives.”

HP is always watching

Another part of the TOS that users find equally, if not even more disturbing is the following: “Subject to the terms of this Agreement, You hereby grant to HP a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free right to use, copy, store, transmit, modify, create derivative works of and display Your non-personal data for its business purposes.”

HP

Customers have taken to social media to share their outrage. One user on BlueSky named Matt Salomone was to the point when he said: “I didn’t think it was possible to find new ways to hate printers, but here we are.”

Others were angry and disappointed that HP had thrown away the reputation it once had for quality, saying: “Hewlett-Packard used to mean a company that made some damn nice devices that worked well, lasted, and were nice to use (I’ve got an HP12C calculator, as one such example). But they’ve eaten away at that rep to the point it was trash… and then they decide to up the ante and go full-on trash.”

It remains to be seen how HP will respond to this backlash.