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Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

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171–180 of 184 posts

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare KDE's Dolphin with Windows's Explorer (tabs, split view, dark theme a decade ago, file size/mod date under filename...) Ten Dutch guys can make for free a better piece of software than a multi-billion dollar corporation can because better UX isn't profitable when you've already captured 99% of the market. :p

KDE is not relevant or even heard of aside from people on Arch forums and more isolated communities. Heck the rare times I've seen Linux in the wild, guess what DE they were using? It's the one that's actually used by mainstream Linux distros, and even outside of GNOME, I even saw a wild Ubuntu terminal running Unity about a week ago. KDE should stop assisting with fragmenting Linux, or get the DE up-to-par for mains…

KDE is used by default in Suse, has first class support on Red Hat distros, and is the default on the Steam Deck.

Honestly, it's better than GNOME at being an alternative to Windows UX, so calling them out for fragmenting Linux is kind of moot.

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#172
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't understand the need to include "the types of websites you visit" in GPU driver telemetry. Do you visit Youtube and Twitch other streaming services often? Focus on video decoding. Do you visit sites that heavily utilize graphics[1]? Focus on 3D acceleration. There are reasons this data can be useful, especially since Intel wants to unfuck their otherwise imperially fucked drivers. Websites aren't just plain t…

Do they need telemetry to know this? I could ask around, but I don't think anyone exists who doesn't game and also watch video on the same system. Should Creative also track my listening habits, to determine whether soundcard development resources need pooled into system sounds or MP3 decoding? Wouldn't that be a tad silly of them? It seems a bit post-facto to me.

> I don't think anyone exists who doesn't game and also watch video on the same system. Actually I have a dedicated computer connected to my TV to watch videos. My gaming computer is dedicated to gaming (and doesn't get much use these days). I have a Linux computer for everything else.

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#173
post #3

This is definitely not what I'd be ready to approve: "Intel provides a long list of the types of data it collects" ... "Those include the types of websites you visit , which Intel says are dumped into 30 categories and logged without URLs or information that identifies you, including how long and how often you visit certain types of sites. " Emphasis mine. I surely don't expect that from a GPU driver company. Damn.

I wonder what are those categories and if Intel knows something we don't know. For instance, this information will be useful for the coming implementation of CBDC in various countries and form a basis of social credit score. Intel will probably make a ton of money by selling this information to governments.

IMO the "score" obtained this way would be completely useless as the "sites visited" don't correspond to the money one actually spends online.

Somebody interested in money transactions can get much more information by actually observing money transactions.

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#174
post #3

This is definitely not what I'd be ready to approve: "Intel provides a long list of the types of data it collects" ... "Those include the types of websites you visit , which Intel says are dumped into 30 categories and logged without URLs or information that identifies you, including how long and how often you visit certain types of sites. " Emphasis mine. I surely don't expect that from a GPU driver company. Damn.

I surely wouldn't call Intel a "GPU driver company" (like how I'd call American Megatrends a BIOS/Firmware company), but rather a Processor company that is also making drivers (but that is neither here nor there). This is still so weird of them (not weird in the sense I wouldn't put it past them, but weird in a sense that someone even had the idea), even if they make it optional. Like, I don't care if you want to use…

I never had a goal to reduce Intel to a single role in today's world. Instead:

For a company Y, where Y produces GPU driver, I can't believe there's a plausible explanation for Y to globally collect information about the web sites visited by all users in order to improve the GPU driver code.

The reason behind must be something else.

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or leak data that I share with them in some manner Like when their video drivers overstep their bounds and gather information on what applications are run and what websites are visited?

No, not like that at all lmao Just wait until you hear about your cursor being tracked on pages and what images and positions on the site you hover and stop scrolling over :p Intel isn't giving my browser data to enemies of the state. What do you really think Intel is doing with this information? And yeah, website URLs are important since people want to bootstrap and toss WebGL all over the place needlessly; all that…

> Intel isn't giving my browser data to enemies of the state. What do you really think Intel is doing with this information?

I actually have no idea, which is part of the point. The concern isn't [primarily] Intel. Eventually, it will be leaked or sold or shared with third party contractors who will leak or sell it or share with third party contractors who will...

Once private data leaves your system, you have no control over it. The reputation of any one company doesn't protect it.

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#176

While Nvidia's driver installer doesn't ask permission, does anyone happen to know if there's a way after installation to disable their telemetry collection?

Best guide I found https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/euud7u/how_to_prev... I updated their blocks to cover all the IPs in the range, windows firewall rules accept CIDR notation ala 72.25.64.0/18. All the ranges for their backend stuff I've found so far: 72.25.64.0/18 216.228.112.0/20 8.36.80.0/24 8.36.113.0/24 I leave mapping out the rest of their IP space as an exercise to the reader. Found using `whois` aga…

A few of tools you may find useful to aid in your searches [1][2][3] if you did not already have them.

[1] - https://bgp.he.net/ [click on the AS then the IPv4/IPv6 prefixes]

[2] - https://bgp.tools/

[3] - https://www.robtex.com/

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s honestly kind of shocking that all desktop OSes didn’t gain something like mobile permissions over a decade ago. Consider Qubes OS if you need to isolate the apps on desktop. I'm a happy daily driving user.

I wish the advances in Qubes would eventually make it out of Qubes and be available in other distros.

What's wrong with Qubes itself?

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare KDE's Dolphin with Windows's Explorer (tabs, split view, dark theme a decade ago, file size/mod date under filename...) Ten Dutch guys can make for free a better piece of software than a multi-billion dollar corporation can because better UX isn't profitable when you've already captured 99% of the market. :p

KDE is not relevant or even heard of aside from people on Arch forums and more isolated communities. Heck the rare times I've seen Linux in the wild, guess what DE they were using? It's the one that's actually used by mainstream Linux distros, and even outside of GNOME, I even saw a wild Ubuntu terminal running Unity about a week ago. KDE should stop assisting with fragmenting Linux, or get the DE up-to-par for mains…

I know quite a few Linux users, and not all of them are computer nerds (and none of them use Arch or are part of some small niche group). I'd say about 1/3 of them use Gnome, 1/3 use KDE, and 1/3 use something other than those two.

In general, it seems that those who are used to Windows get along better with KDE.

> KDE should stop assisting with fragmenting Linux

Having a selection of DEs to choose from is not "fragmenting Linux". It's a rather large strength of Linux to be able to select the DE that works best for you. I wish that were possible with Windows!

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Things smashed together on the same domain, so no longer separate subdomains. We can refine the regexps so that we approve certain subfolders within a same address.

You can't due to more and more software (ab)using certificate pinning.

Darn. It took me a bit to realize that you're completely right. Thanks for the correction!

Re: Intel's GPU Drivers Now Collect Telemetry, Including 'How You Use Your Computer'

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KDE is not relevant or even heard of aside from people on Arch forums and more isolated communities. Heck the rare times I've seen Linux in the wild, guess what DE they were using? It's the one that's actually used by mainstream Linux distros, and even outside of GNOME, I even saw a wild Ubuntu terminal running Unity about a week ago. KDE should stop assisting with fragmenting Linux, or get the DE up-to-par for mains…

I know quite a few Linux users, and not all of them are computer nerds (and none of them use Arch or are part of some small niche group). I'd say about 1/3 of them use Gnome, 1/3 use KDE, and 1/3 use something other than those two. In general, it seems that those who are used to Windows get along better with KDE. > KDE should stop assisting with fragmenting Linux Having a selection of DEs to choose from is not "fragm…

The fragment part comes from KDE nor GNOME coming close to the efficiency of DWM and Windows Explorer.

DWM and Explorer have low-latency, good hardware-acceleration, and power efficiency down to a T. GNOME 44 isn't on-par. I haven't heard anyone ever compliment KDE in these regards recently and back when I last tried it when Plasma 5 was relatively new it also wasn't up-to-par.

More work should go towards making these GUI toolkits run as efficiently as possible, instead of re-inventing the wheel slowly while macOS and Windows continue going strong.

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