San Francisco, Mar 12 (IANS): Technology company HP is blocking customers from using third-party ink with its printers for security purposes.

Taking to Reddit and Twitter, several users reported this issue.

According to the HP community forum, a recent firmware upgrade for printers has disabled the use of non-HP ink as part of the company's strict "dynamic security" policy, reports The Verge.

Dynamic security, a part of HP's cartridge authentication process that was first introduced in 2016, is designed to "protect the quality of our customer experience, maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property."

This prevents the use of ink or toner cartridges in some printers that do not include "new or reused HP chips or electronic circuitry," something for which HP has already faced criticism and been the target of many class action lawsuits.

Despite this, it appears that the company is extending its dynamic security policy to more devices that were previously compatible with cartridges from other manufacturers.

The report further mentioned that the technology company had reached a $1.5 million settlement with customers in the US in 2020 as part of a class-action lawsuit that claimed that HP's firmware acted as "malware" by "adding, deleting or altering code, diminishing the capabilities of HP printers, and rendering the competitors' supply cartridges incompatible with HP printers."

In addition, after preventing users from installing less expensive third-party ink cartridges, the business paid millions to customers in Australia and the European Union who were impacted by dynamic security, the report said.