New HP Printers Will Have Own Email Addresses – Great Idea or Spam Magnet?

HP has announced they plan to introduce a line of web enabled printers that will have their own email addresses. The company says the intent is to make it easy for people with smartphones and other mobile devices to print without the hassle of having to be hooked up to a computer. The example they give is taking a photo with your phone and sending it your printer’s email address so that the printed photo will be waiting for you when you get back to your office. Convenient and useful? Perhaps, but HP hasn’t had much to say about what could be a huge problem: Spam. It is conceivable that spammers could get ahold of these special addresses and wreak havoc.

Anyone who’s been in business for the last few decades and uses a fax machine has probably experienced the joys of junk faxes. Shady call centers pumped it out by the ton and businesses found their faxes spitting out reams of ads for loans, seminars, business supplies, and more. It was little more than printed spam and usually very hard to stop. This cost companies thousands in wasted paper, toner, and time. The practice has been outlawed but it still happens. Just imagine if a hacker was able to obtain a list of these new printer email addresses. HP hasn’t yet explained how they plan to keep them secure, and it could be quite easy to find them by using the same tools spammers use to find conventional email addresses. Printers in offices across the country could start pumping out ads for penny stocks, Viagra, fake designer goods, loans, porn and more. HP says it is also planning an app store for the printers. It might be a good idea if one of the first apps it offers is a spam filter! It will be interesting to see how HP plans to keep these printers and their email addresses from becoming a spammer’s newest tool.