People are not happy about HP’s latest decision to remove its print-free-for-life plan, nearly 28 million licensed Texas drivers have been hit by data breach, and a claim of hostage-taking at Ubisoft Montreal turns out to be a hoax.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Monday November 16, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
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There was an idea – for people who don’t need to print much, HP introduced a print-free-for-life tier, costing nothing for 15 pages per month, and $1 per 10 additional pages. It was an old-fashioned idea. That plan is no more. HP has scrapped the free tier. According to the Register, a source using print-free-for-life told the publication that HP told him he’s gotta start forking over cash starting Dec. 26, or his printer will stop working without newly purchased ink cartridges. Fees will start from $0.99 a month for 15 pages. An HP spokesperson told the Register that the IT giant’s print-free-for-life plan was “an introductory offer.” $.99 might not sound like a lot, but it’s understandable that people are upset about a company suddenly reaching deeper into customers’ pockets in the middle of a pandemic.
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An insurance software company with access to DMV records says it was breached, meaning personal information of nearly 28 million Texas driver’s licenses may have been stolen. An insurance software company called Vertafore, which has legal access to that DMV information, according to local reporting, said in a statement the data was inadvertently stored in an unsecured storage service that was hacked between March and August of this year. Tsk Tsk – Drivers in the region are told to freeze their credit and change their account passwords.
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And lastly, police called to the Ubisoft headquarters in Montreal after a hostage-taking report Friday confirmed there was no evidence of such crime. On Nov. 13, Montreal police tweeted that “specialized” officers were sent to the headquarters after initially a 911 call, the Montreal department said. We’re just glad that everyone is safe, and please, don’t make prank 911 calls.