You've been lucky, Brother printers used to be infamous for being cheap, junk printers that didn't last.Won't use any Brother products have had nothing but problems with them and they don't always play well with Linux. Just last year I tried a new Brother printer again, took it back, wouldn't work with Linux no matter what I did. Replaced it with a Canon, same issue so I went back to HP, worked as soon as I hooked it up.It is where the big money is. A few years back I was buying someone a laser printer. I noticed xerox was a lot cheaper and started to buy it but when I went to get the toner I realized it was almost as much as the damn printer and about twice what other brands were, so I went with a brother printer. Theirs is cheaper on toner and there are a lot of generic manufacturers that can cut another $20+ off the high yield cartridges.
As for the op, I am wondering if you can uninstall the updates, reinstall the driver from disc and escape their paywall at least until you use up the generics you bought.
I know nothing of Linux. I did lose use of an older brother product for awhile when I switched computers to a new version of windows....I think it was when 8 came out and there was no driver for the longest time. Otherwise I have never had a problem with them and they seem to last a fair amount of time. That one that wouldn't switch was one we had had in the family for about 10 years and it was still going along on the original drum.
I sort of have the same impression of any HP product. It is why I won't buy any of their computers.