Fedora contemplates the driverless printing future

Using network software and concepts is, for a locally connected printer, an implementation detail.

IPP uses network services as an implementation detail, even for USB connected printers, but it does not require “network access” in the sense of any of this being visible beyond the printer and the machine it’s connected to.

Think of it as IPP over USB. It’s using IP. And it’s using *a* network (sort of, in the sense that the endpoints are using networking protocols to communicate), but there’s no need for it to be on *your network*.

So this is a way to use IPP everywhere rather than having a custom USB solution. And unless your objection is literally to the use of IP protocols, this seems fine.