51–60 of 234 posts
The sad thing about this is that there are perfectly valid reasons for Wacom to want certain information, like what hardware do their customers connect the drawing tablets to, what operating systems and applications do they use. This is useful information to have, in the sense that Wacom can choose where to put their resources, what applications to test for, etc. But the very fact they are so damned sneaky about it m…
That doesn't makes sense. This is just a piece of hardware and the only way for it to do that is through the driver. But you can easily check it: https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom.h https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom_sys.c https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom_wac.c https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom_…
The article was written about OSX. These types of spyware behaviors in drivers are very common on Windows and OSX.
Reading the article: Last week I set up my tablet on my new laptop. As part of installing its drivers I was asked to accept Wacom’s privacy policy. And this is where I stopped. You're doing it wrong. Drivers belong to the kernel. You should not have to manually install it. You should pressure the vendor to correctly support their devices. I have a Wacom device, tried it in different recent distros, different computer…
>And this is where I stopped God I'm so sick of these holier than thou Richard Stallman level unrealistic dismissals. This take isn't brilliant - we all, at all times, know that we have the option to not ____ if we so choose. Not unlike how people say things like "well I would just choose not to work at ____". That we often choose otherwise means we can't but. >You should pressure the vendor to correctly support thei…
> >And this is where I stopped
>
> God I'm so sick of these holier than thou Richard Stallman level unrealistic dismissals.
> >You should pressure the vendor to correctly support their devices.
>
> Cool like by means of a blogpost that makes it to the top of hn that details how annoying the vendor's process is?
We must consider that it is lack of knowledge and complacency from users that incentivizes vendors to act in such an abusive way.
Sorry to sound stallman-like. I just wanted to raise attention to an important point that is mostly ignored.
The sad thing about this is that there are perfectly valid reasons for Wacom to want certain information, like what hardware do their customers connect the drawing tablets to, what operating systems and applications do they use. This is useful information to have, in the sense that Wacom can choose where to put their resources, what applications to test for, etc. But the very fact they are so damned sneaky about it m…
Why not pay money to people who spend time helping Wacom improve their products? Then lots of people would willingly help, fill in surveys, test configurations, write feedback, etc.
That doesn't makes sense. This is just a piece of hardware and the only way for it to do that is through the driver. But you can easily check it: https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom.h https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom_sys.c https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom_wac.c https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/hid/wacom_…
Obviously there isn't spyware in the open source linux driver. The article was written about OSX. These types of spyware behaviors in drivers are very common on Windows and OSX.
I never thought I would want a "walled garden" on my desktop, but these shit software stacks that companies are integrating into their products are forcing me to want to fight back to lock down my machine. I would love a simple utility that could not only neatly encapsulate and display the data being sent from my machine out on the network but also allow me to merely check a box to block that traffic. A smart initial…
A walled garden just changes the entities which can control your devices. It doesn't fix the problem of agency, trust, choice and consent.
My tablets can't have spyware, because the drivers are stock open source. The folks making the hardware aren't in control of the driver software that runs the device. I can trust the community that any attempts to do this nonsense in an open source driver will make the news. The track record against spyware in the linux kernel is spotless.
This kind of nonsense is only a problem with closed source software.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wacom collecting kinda intrusive information (likely justified under knowing what applications to test their product against) is not some sort of oligarchial/royalty based plot. I mean, everything you wrote sounds great, it just doesn't mean anything or have any relation to reality.
are you saying that in reality, as opposed to leftist fantasy world, that the US strikes an appropriate legislative balance between the general benefit of the populace and the desires of the business which operate there? that...doesn't seem right.
>The first is a principled fuck you. I don’t care whether anything materially bad will or won’t happen as a consequence of Wacom taking this data from me. I simply resent the fact that they’re doing it.
I have rarely seen the concept expressed in such a clear, direct manner.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wacom collecting kinda intrusive information (likely justified under knowing what applications to test their product against) is not some sort of oligarchial/royalty based plot. I mean, everything you wrote sounds great, it just doesn't mean anything or have any relation to reality.
are you saying that in reality, as opposed to leftist fantasy world, that the US strikes an appropriate legislative balance between the general benefit of the populace and the desires of the business which operate there? that...doesn't seem right.
The sad thing about this is that there are perfectly valid reasons for Wacom to want certain information, like what hardware do their customers connect the drawing tablets to, what operating systems and applications do they use. This is useful information to have, in the sense that Wacom can choose where to put their resources, what applications to test for, etc. But the very fact they are so damned sneaky about it m…