If there’s one annoying thing about printers is that a lot of printer makers usually implement features that almost make it a requirement that you use their printer cartridges otherwise you might encounter errors when trying to print. Now it seems that Dymo is taking things one step further by adding DRM to their printer paper.
Yes, you read that right. According to activist Cory Doctorow who published an article on the EFF, it appears that Dymo is now adding RFID readers into its latest label printers. This means that when users try to print labels with the device, it will be able to detect if you’re using third-party labels.
According to Doctorow, “The new label rolls come with a booby-trap. A RFID-equipped microcontroller that authenticates with your label-maker to attest that you bought Dymo’s premium-priced labels and not a competitor’s. The chip counts down the labels as you print them (so you can’t transplant it to a generic label roll).”
If you’ve always bought Dymo’s labels to begin with, we suppose this isn’t really an issue, but for those who feel that this essentially locks them out of other potential cheaper alternative labels, then perhaps you might be better off using a different brand of label printer instead.
