Wacom drawing tablets track the name of every application that you open

Post by 7thaccount » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 6:41 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #100

jodrellblank wrote: post #50

Discussed before, and brought up in comments: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247292 (this article, earlier thread) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22803484 (comment by the author of the article) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22512696 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27963867 One of those links was me mentioning it, and this got so under my skin it took Wacom's brand from "premium, resp…

> Like Lenovo's "let's ship spyware with Thinkpads" did. One hopes that companies would value their brand and reputation over some short-term profit (and yet nobody here is holding their breath). To this day I refuse to buy any Lenovo product, and as the tech guy in my family I warn everyone who asks from considering them at all.

Post by cma » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 6:57 PM UTC

jodrellblank wrote: post #76

dahart wrote: post #21

> we can also come up with scenarios that involve real harms. […] I personally use Google Analytics to track visitors to my website. This was a well-written fun read, and I also both care about privacy a lot and have also used Google Analytics on a site too, but at the same time I’m a little bit floored how quickly his own use of GA was assumed benign while Wacom’s was assumed malicious. (Using GA is handing tracking…

> " it’s very, very valuable data if you care about the customer experience. [...] What can we do as developers to prevent customer experience from becoming adversarial? " Pay money for the very very valuable data, instead of taking it and trying to hide behind legalese and finger-pointing and distraction and affront. If studying how people use your thing adds value to your company, run a usability lab where you pay…

Post by Igelau » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 6:59 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #60

krylon wrote: post #20

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…

I don't see any valid reason for Wacom to look at what application people use. And in a proper operating system that information should not be easily available (not without the users' consent).

Post by kapp_in_life » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 7:26 PM UTC

robin_reala wrote: post #99

kapp_in_life wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You consented when you ran their drivers to use the hardware, just like you consent to being recorded on CCTV when you enter a shop or stop at a gas station. Don't like it? Read the privacy policy for software you run. That, or you can write or rely on libre drivers for the tablet to run on your specific hardware setup. And deal with all the issues unsupported/maintained drivers have.

Might be the case in the US, but GDPR in the EU requires informed consent for this sort of analytics gathering. With the keyword being informed.

Post by wizzwizz4 » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

breakingcups wrote: post #124

7thaccount wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. It only takes one mistake of that magnitude to lose me as a customer forever.

I take it you both also boycott Sony Music Group?