They use the small flash inside the DRM chip in the cartridge to store the telemetry, then the e-waste companies are paid by HP to read and send to the mothership the contents of the chips sent to recycle

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[–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

Would you think that makes sense if you were designing this feature?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Fair point, although it feels wrong to refer to malware as a feature.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Telemetry is not malware, as much as you may despise both of them. Words mean things.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I don't hate telemetry, and words do have meanings. I wouldn't call it a consumer attraction, however, otherwise it would make the most sense to design it as opt-in.

    Telemetry isn't malicious by nature, although it likely is in support of predatory sales practices in this case considering HP's recent history. When opt-out, I would call it undesirable software designed to send unauthorized data from a consumer perspective.

    Maybe there is a better term, but I can't think of one. Language is flexible though, and most categorizations have defiers.

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