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Judge denies HP's plea to throw out all-in-one printer lockdown lawsuit
(www.theregister.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
They should be fined for generating a lot of unnecessary e-waste as well.
The problem with fining incredibly rich corporations, is they either laugh it off, or just pass that "cost" onto the consumers.
I suppose the options are things like:
a) International regulation against "disabling parts of a product without good reason". Products simply cannot be sold legally
b) Enforced warning signs on packets (like cigarette packaging) - each HP printer box or online advert must display a warning sign covering 60% of all images stating "We are a predatory company and will disable your products for no good reason".
If those don't work, then death penalty for top 3 highest ranking of the company and top 3 highest paid of the company, per violation, per year.
Eventually "passing the cost on to consumers" increases the price so much that the deceptive printers cost more than legitimate ones.