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More details from petition creator

CryptoFirewall and similar technologies allow printer manufacturers to lock the buyer-in to their own brand of replacement ink or toner cartridges. Ostensibly this is to protect the manufacturer's R&D investment, but the real truth is that chipping allows the printer to be sold at a loss-leader price, with the profits being made on extortionately-priced consumables.

Chipped cartridges are 'engineered-to-fail' technology. Most disable the printer after a set number of pages, or at a set date, even though the cartridge is not empty. It is a 'waste-making' industry, causing many thousands of perfectly-serviceable printers and part-full cartridges to be discarded annually.

Once one manufacturer starts 'chipping' consumables, others must follow suit, or else be seen as uncompetitive on the highstreet price of the printer. Thus it is a self-perpetuating practice.

This is clearly a case where legal intervention is needed; if the practice of cartridge-chipping were banned, then the price of printer hardware would be determined by normal market forces. The honest manufacturer, the environment, and the consumer would all benefit.

Current signatories

Ian W. Rudge, the Petition Creator, joined by:

• jjacquir@aol.com
• John Holden
• L MacDonald
• Craig Rodway
• George Morrison
• bob rayner
• Rob Phillips
• philip mccormick
• Anthony John Watts
• David Wraithmell
• Ben Parish
• Jeremy Dudley
• Robert Ford
• Tony Wright
• John Talbot
• Philip Glover
• Dick King
• S King
• Jeff
• James
• Elizabeth Vallance
• Steve Bassett
• Abdullah Rhodes-Taylor
• C J Quest
• Nathan Wrighte
• andrew jenkins
• David Voller
• Neil McAdam
• Stephen Chaplin
• Del
• David Hodsman
• Tim Martin
• Dave Lazzerini
• George Higgins
• Derek Williams
• Kenneth John Madden
• John Sherwood
• d porritt
• David Wheater
• James Hegarty
• Philip Pickard
• Denis Scadeng
• Michael Cook
• Sarah bailey
• Matthew Sawyer
• John Beardmore
• andrew aiken
• Andrea J Chee
• R Hayward
• Denise Brooker
• Helen Tapper
• Andrew Tomlin
• bob christie
• Mark Dunlop
• Martin Burch
• Chris Florance
• Peter Moreland
• William Robert Davies
• Allan Brown
• David Moreland
• Clive Wetton
• alan narey
• Roger Blight
• Paul Hutchins
• Bill Appleton
• Derek Jones
• Oron Joffe
• Robert Whittaker
• Neil Adamson
• Lorraine Cook
• Craig Mylett
• Andrew Main
• Rob White
• B M Keer
• Peter Burns
• Gary Lambert
• Nicholas Rhatigan
• A Hinkler
• Simon Woodhall
• Colin Newman
• Mr W S Crabtree
• Paul Jones
• M Singleton
• Jacqueline Sorfleet
• Felix Sorfleet
• Antony Sorfleet
• Craig Hennessey
• Hannah Grundy
• Stuart Hutton
• BcB
• Richard Carling
• Tom Tamplin
• Stuart Fyfe
• Ray Mote
• Tracey Mote
• Laurence Gough
• PETER HOWARD
• stephen graham
• Robert Crisp
• Terry Lees