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Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

pcmag.com

11–20 of 170 posts

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#11
My surprise level is at approximately... zero. Next we will see some news, that MS was compelled to share that info with some three letters. - Oh wait, that is exactly what has already happened, according to the article.

MS is just like that person, who drives a dagger into your back.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#12
Well they can’t use that to track users of Linux.

I was a big fan of Microsoft ten to fifteen years ago. I’ve since transitioned my whole family off Microsoft products now over to Linux, Apple, and proton. Edit: and Brave.

I really thought their corporate culture would’ve changed after the late 90’s but I guess this is a good lesson for founders. The culture you build into your company will likely outlast your tenure.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#13

Well they can’t use that to track users of Linux. I was a big fan of Microsoft ten to fifteen years ago. I’ve since transitioned my whole family off Microsoft products now over to Linux, Apple, and proton. Edit: and Brave. I really thought their corporate culture would’ve changed after the late 90’s but I guess this is a good lesson for founders. The culture you build into your company will likely outlast your tenure…

Well Enterprises can also enroll Linux machines in intune

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#14
post #2

TLDR: Microsoft can (at least) correlate your Windows installation to all website domains you visit while using Windows. It's unclear what the mechanism is, but I'd wager their "telemetry" is constantly revealing your installation ID, your current IP, and domains that were recently resolved.

"all" would be troubling indeed. I hope that someone can discover the mechanism, and whether it's depending on any settings like "Share browsing data with other Windows features" or any other settings.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#15

Well they can’t use that to track users of Linux. I was a big fan of Microsoft ten to fifteen years ago. I’ve since transitioned my whole family off Microsoft products now over to Linux, Apple, and proton. Edit: and Brave. I really thought their corporate culture would’ve changed after the late 90’s but I guess this is a good lesson for founders. The culture you build into your company will likely outlast your tenure…

Both systemd and dbus have a similar device id for Linux, which e.g. Chrome reads at startup:

https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/systemd/machine-id.5.en.h...

https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/dbus-bin/dbus-uuidgen.1.e...

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#16
post #2

TLDR: Microsoft can (at least) correlate your Windows installation to all website domains you visit while using Windows. It's unclear what the mechanism is, but I'd wager their "telemetry" is constantly revealing your installation ID, your current IP, and domains that were recently resolved.

I was under the impression Windows is unreliable for these kind of activities as they are "leakish".

I imagine it's not too difficult to narrow down the potential suspects with how much data points you'd get from ISP, Windows telemetry, and whatever.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#17
post #15

Well they can’t use that to track users of Linux. I was a big fan of Microsoft ten to fifteen years ago. I’ve since transitioned my whole family off Microsoft products now over to Linux, Apple, and proton. Edit: and Brave. I really thought their corporate culture would’ve changed after the late 90’s but I guess this is a good lesson for founders. The culture you build into your company will likely outlast your tenure…

Both systemd and dbus have a similar device id for Linux, which e.g. Chrome reads at startup: https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/systemd/machine-id.5.en.h... https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/dbus-bin/dbus-uuidgen.1.e...

Is this specific to Debian?

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#19
post #15

Well they can’t use that to track users of Linux. I was a big fan of Microsoft ten to fifteen years ago. I’ve since transitioned my whole family off Microsoft products now over to Linux, Apple, and proton. Edit: and Brave. I really thought their corporate culture would’ve changed after the late 90’s but I guess this is a good lesson for founders. The culture you build into your company will likely outlast your tenure…

Both systemd and dbus have a similar device id for Linux, which e.g. Chrome reads at startup: https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/systemd/machine-id.5.en.h... https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/dbus-bin/dbus-uuidgen.1.e...

I don't like the idea of a persistent id for my machine. Would there be any harm in rewriting the machine-id at every boot? Or just deleting it as part of the shutdown sequence?

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#20
post #15

Well they can’t use that to track users of Linux. I was a big fan of Microsoft ten to fifteen years ago. I’ve since transitioned my whole family off Microsoft products now over to Linux, Apple, and proton. Edit: and Brave. I really thought their corporate culture would’ve changed after the late 90’s but I guess this is a good lesson for founders. The culture you build into your company will likely outlast your tenure…

Both systemd and dbus have a similar device id for Linux, which e.g. Chrome reads at startup: https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/systemd/machine-id.5.en.h... https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/dbus-bin/dbus-uuidgen.1.e...

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

I have the urge to grab a pitchfork, but I know better than to make assumptions about why that functionality was added. Time to do some homework I guess.

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