This chart shows a variety of core evils for which current manufacturers of imaging products partake:
Indeed almost all printer makers are at the extreme of social irresponsibility. So the immediate question is:
Who is ethical, per the above criteria?
Ethical printer makers:
- oki (aka okidata)
Note that "overview" pages for some Oki products mention only nonfree software platform compatibility, but the more detailed pages mention linux and UNIX support.
Ethical scanner makers:
The recommendations below are makers of products that at least interoperate with free software platforms. For this study to reach what I'll call an RMS-respected level, we would have to investigate instances where the OEM drivers themselves are also free software. Also note that the sane-project.org and h-node.org DBs are ignored here because we are purely interested in manufacturers' ethics.
- avision (some official linux support; some devices are not OS-dependent)
- doxie (subsidiary of "Apparent Corporation"; listed here because products are not generally OS-dependent)
- mustek ("image acquire" officially supported on linux)
- umax (some devices support linux officially)
Makers of scanners all of which exclusively depend on nonfree software platforms:
These manufactures apparently neglect the FLOSS community entirely. And for that reason, you might want to consider boycotting them as well. Note that this list only captures manufactures who impose nonfree software who also do not appear in the top diagram. No effort was made to check the long list of manufacturers for free software support.
- ambir
- clearclick
- ivina
- microtek (they name-drop "linux" in their "innovation" marketing page, but apparently no scanners officially support any free software platforms)
- plustek (site-wide faq says: "No, Linux is not supported.")
What ethical factors are missing from this article?
The obvious caveat is that not all ethical factors can possibly captured. For example, some might find it interesting to know which manufacturers try to impose proprietary technology on consumers (e.g. cartridges with encryption mechanisms), or which ones produce free libre open-source software ("FLOSS") drivers, or at least cooperate with the FLOSS community in their efforts.
To track utilization of DRM in consumables, we have:
- the DRM-free wiki (warning: printer section is currently underdeveloped)
What's wrong with drug testing?
Consider the node in the diagram to be the Cliff's Notes. The detailed explanation is posted in: Employer-imposed drug testing -- why it's a bad idea. The drug testing data used for the diagram came from this database. Exceptionally Kyocera is not in that db, but a job listing for "KYOCERA Precision Tools, Inc." (apparently a subsidiary) stated that a background check and drug test were required.
What's wrong with CISPA and CISA?
These are policies that enable unwarranted information sharing, and further grant immunity for abusive and damaging information over-sharing. CISPA was defeated, but CISA recycled much of CISPA and it became policy.
What are the tracker dots?
Printer makers were asked to secretly implement a mechanism in their products that encode a unique fingerprint for documents that are printed. Some cooperated on a voluntary basis, ultimately working against the consumers who feed them. Some of this information was extracted by way of a FOIA request. Not all printer makers were entirely secretive. For example, Toshiba disclosed the presence of tracker dots in some of their literature.
Warning: the tracker dots relationships in the diagram only show manufacturers confirmed to plant tracker dots. There are very likely other participating printer makers not yet discovered. More information on tracker dots is available here:
- Seeing yellow
- How to find the secret dots
- EFF's list of printers
The data source used for the diagram is the EFF list above. Exceptionally, Sharp was mentioned on Slashdot as appearing in the FOIA release.
HP's recent DRM scandal and involvement in the Israeli occupation
In addition to HPs reprehensible activity in the diagram, HP has also recently been caught in a scandal whereby they were pushing destructive firmware updates to their users. The surreptitiously malicious code would cause a premature end-of-life on their printer cartridges.
Some may find it amusing that EFF is behind a petition to encourage HP to remedy this particular scandal. Looking at all the evil that HP does, such a petition is a wasted effort. This company cannot be salvaged from an ethical standpoint. They should be strictly boycotted. Petition influence would make a meaningful difference in the world if focused on companies that only have one arrow on the diagram, in an effort to get them on the short-list of ethical manufacturers.
HP was (is?) mistakenly endorsed by the FSF because free drivers exist for some of their printers. But the FSF agenda includes opposition to DRM (www.defectivebydesign.org is an FSF initiative). Given all the above-mentioned evils and this conflict of interest, it only makes sense to boycott HP.
There is also an active boycott against HP for directly supporting Israeli military actions in the West Bank and Gaza strip.
Samsung's perverse influence on the fed mapped
Sony intimidates users who mod their own Sony products
The "Defective by Design" campaign promotes a boycott against Sony for a variety of evils largely related to Sony's attacks on users freedoms and purposeful malware installations on users equipment.
Taking action-- what can you do?
- If you are in the market for a printer: Boycott, of course. Don't buy anything that patronizes a vendor for which you ethically oppose.
- Consider not buying a printer at all. Print your documents at a local print shop (one that doesn't use a socially irresponsible brand, or uses generic consumables). If they buy toner from an unethical OEM, urge them to go generic and make your patronage contingent on it.
- If you already own a boycotted device: it's important to stop buying OEM consumables. Buy generic instead. Printer makers get most of their revenue selling ink, toner, and drums. In some cases this means voiding your warranty and taking bizarre steps to be able to use generic consumables. In those cases, it's even more important that you switch to generic consumables so as to not reward the makers attempt at anti-competitive actions which damage the market for all consumers.
- If your printer is not known to have tracker dots you can help the project by sending a sample to EFF for testing.
- Pressure organizations that feed the boycotted manufacturers. Pressure them to stop. E.g. FSF uses DRMd HP printers themselves. Perhaps give them a donation that's conditional on them migrating to ethical options.
- Petition companies that are one change away from becoming ethical. Demand firmware updates to stop printing tracker dots-- petition Brother, Konica Minolta, NRG, Sharp, and Toshiba. Or petition Compaq to stop drug testing employees. This would create ethical options for consumers. Petition scanner makers in this section to produce free drivers that work on free operating systems.
- Promote Oki? (apparently the one single printer maker that is ethical). Also pressure Oki to obtain a "DRM-free" label for their printers -- it's for their own good anyway.