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Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

pcmag.com

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Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#61

Post by NordStreamYacht »

pluc wrote: post #49
d5lt5 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you heard of a website called facebook?

There was a time where the default assumption was functionality created tracking opportunities. Nowadays, it's more the opposite. Social media have always been on the forefront of monetizing data, but the same data in the hands of governments is used differently. My point is that the way you/we feel towards Facebook, the entire world is increasingly feeling about most, if not all, US tech. I know people who won't use…

Israeli pagers are a blast.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#62

Post by heresie-dabord »

tremon wrote: post #15
cheschire wrote: post #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…

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...

The utility of and presence of unique identifiers in software should be no surprise.

But if you are using TelemetryOS (i.e. you cannot fully switch off the chatter) and your daily Web browser doesn't offer privacy extensions, you are the product.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#63

Post by Kipters »

Someone wrote: post #43

I guess we’ll see a Windows tool that sets your identifier to this suspect’s “g:6755467234350028” very soon (weird ID, by the way. 16-digits makes sense, but I would have expected it to be hexadecimal) Also, can anybody tell how “Microsoft had records showing that on May 12, 2025, at 19:21 UTC, the GDID associated with Stokes’ computer “accessed, among other ngrok pages, ' https://dashboard[.]ngrok.com/signup ,'” wor…

> (weird ID, by the way. 16-digits makes sense, but I would have expected it to be hexadecimal)

it's the decimal representation of a 64 bit integer

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#64

Post by embedding-shape »

Someone wrote: post #43

I guess we’ll see a Windows tool that sets your identifier to this suspect’s “g:6755467234350028” very soon (weird ID, by the way. 16-digits makes sense, but I would have expected it to be hexadecimal) Also, can anybody tell how “Microsoft had records showing that on May 12, 2025, at 19:21 UTC, the GDID associated with Stokes’ computer “accessed, among other ngrok pages, ' https://dashboard[.]ngrok.com/signup ,'” wor…

> Also, can anybody tell how “Microsoft had records showing that on May 12, 2025, at 19:21 UTC, the GDID associated with Stokes’ computer “accessed, among other ngrok pages, 'https://dashboard[.]ngrok.com/signup,'” works?

That URL shows 16 blocked requests, it tries to load (at the very least) datadog and googletagmanager, I'm guessing the police simply reached out to all the analytics companies Ngrok ends up indirectly/directly sending data to, which ends up saving everything they get their hands on.

What surprises me the most is that the guy was using a Windows installation to do all of this. But then again, you only hear about the dumbest criminals who get caught, so I guess it does make sense after all.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#65

Post by Kipters »

contubernio wrote: post #41

Does this not violate European privacy laws?

GDPR only covers PII, this is a randomly generated ID that changes on every install on the OS.

You can mix it with other info to track a user, but it's not enough to de-anonymize someone on its own.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#66

Post by materialpoint »

This goes a long way to prove that Microsoft does NOT care about your privacy, even if the header of their cookie consent claims so. They absolutely do not care, and this should be said about every big-tech vendor, not matter how lame it seems to say so. It is long overdue that we all say what needs to be said: they do not care about your privacy, your independence, or your well being. They DO NOT CARE.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#67

Post by BiteCode_dev »

herbst wrote: post #51
pluc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a time where the default assumption was functionality created tracking opportunities. Nowadays, it's more the opposite. Social media have always been on the forefront of monetizing data, but the same data in the hands of governments is used differently. My point is that the way you/we feel towards Facebook, the entire world is increasingly feeling about most, if not all, US tech. I know people who won't use…

I know people who avoid US tech and happily use Chinese or Russian tech here in central Europe. Not trusting US tech isn't new, it just gets a lot worse

I actually opened a yandex mail account 15 years ago because, since I was going to be tracked, at least it would be from people who have no friendly contact with most gov entities and companies in my society.

Sad.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#69

Post by totaa »

Kipters wrote: post #65
contubernio wrote: post #41

Does this not violate European privacy laws?

GDPR only covers PII, this is a randomly generated ID that changes on every install on the OS. You can mix it with other info to track a user, but it's not enough to de-anonymize someone on its own.

unfortunately under GDPR, anonymous IDs are personal data as they are used to single out a data subject.

Re: Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

#70

Post by tjoff »

Kipters wrote: post #65
contubernio wrote: post #41

Does this not violate European privacy laws?

GDPR only covers PII, this is a randomly generated ID that changes on every install on the OS. You can mix it with other info to track a user, but it's not enough to de-anonymize someone on its own.

If they associate it with a Microsoft account (or anything that is identifiable) then it becomes PII.

And of course they are.

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