HP launched a subscription service Thursday that rents individuals a printer, allots them a certain amount of printed pages, and sends them ink for a month-to-month payment. HP is framing its service as a method to simplify printing for households and small companies, however the deal additionally comes with monitoring and a years-long dedication.

Prices vary from $6.99 per thirty days for a plan that features an HP Envy printer (the present mannequin is the 6020e) and 20 printed pages. The priciest plan consists of an HP OfficeJet Pro rental and 700 printed pages for $35.99 per thirty days.

HP says it would present subscribers with ink deliveries after they’re operating low and 24/7 help through telephone or chat (though it is doubtful how a lot you need to rely on HP support). Support would not embody on- or offsite repairs or half replacements. The subscription’s phrases of service (TOS) observe that the service would not cowl harm or failure brought on by, unsurprisingly, “use of non-HP media supplies and other products” or should you use your printer greater than what your plan requires.

HP Is Watching

HP calls this an All-In-Plan; should you subscribe, the tech firm can be all in in your printing actions.

One of probably the most perturbing elements of the subscription plan is that it requires subscribers to maintain their printers linked to the web. In normal, some customers keep away from connecting their printer to the web as a result of it is the kind of system that features advantageous with out internet entry.

An internet connection may also concern customers about safety or HP-issued firmware updates that make printers stop functioning with non-HP ink.

But HP enforces an web connection by having its TOS additionally state that HP could disrupt the service—and proceed to cost you for it—in case your printer is just not on-line.

HP says it enforces a continuing connection in order that the corporate can monitor issues that make sense for the subscription, like ink cartridge statuses, web page depend, and “to prevent unauthorized use of Your account.” However, HP can even remotely monitor the kind of paperwork (for instance, a PDF or JPEG) printed, the gadgets and software program used to provoke the print job, “peripheral devices,” and some other “metrics” that HP thinks are associated to the subscription and decides so as to add to its distant monitoring.

The All-In Plan privacy policy additionally says that HP could “transfer information about you to advertising partners” in order that they will “recognize your devices,” carry out focused promoting, and, probably, “combine information about you with information from other companies in data sharing cooperatives” that HP participates in. The coverage says that customers can decide out of sharing private information.

The All-In-Plan TOS reads:

Subject to the phrases of this Agreement, You hereby grant to HP a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free proper to make use of, copy, retailer, transmit, modify, create by-product works of and show Your non-personal information for its enterprise functions.

Two-Year Commitment

In January, HP CEO Enrique Lores declared that HP’s “long-term objective is to make printing a subscription.” The All-In-Plan is HP’s newest try at that objective, hoping individuals imagine that the subscription service will simplify issues for themselves. And by together with excessive cancellation charges, HP is trying to lock subscribers in for 2 years.

HP will cost subscribers who cancel their subscription earlier than its finish date as much as $270 plus taxes (the quantity decreases to as little as $60, relying on the printer rented and the size of the subscription). After two years, customers will not see a cancellation payment in the event that they return the rental printer and ink cartridges inside 10 days after canceling their subscription. With these techniques, HP is creating the identical kind of subscription reliance that has made corporations like telephone carriers wealthy whereas limiting buyer choices.