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MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

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Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#171

Post by unselect5917 »

adventured wrote: post #159
matheusmoreira wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some say "i do nothing illegal" "have nothing to hide". I hate how pervasive this argument is. I'm so tired. Sometimes I wish they'd get the total panopticon they want so much. I'm sure the government will be able to find some crimes to hang them with.

The best response is always: "That's not up to you." When people claim they have nothing to hide, always point out that's not up to their determination. That freaks them out, it disarms their shrink-from-confrontation move. And you can point it out super fast, in a plain six word statement. No need to launch into a deep discussion unless prompted. Alternatively, simply respond with: yes you do. When they reply: "what…

Just because I have nothing to hide doesn't mean I have anything I want you to see.

People are entitled to privacy because they enjoy it. No further justification is needed.

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#172

Post by delecti »

frig57 wrote: post #145
saejox wrote: post #104

These days i cant recommend Windows to anybody. Even gamers should move to linux. Some say "i do nothing illegal" "have nothing to hide". You dont do anything illegal in your point of view. AI tracking you might think otherwise. A sudden knock on your door might happen because of an ambigious search/propmt.

Anyone got tips or guides to starting a linux OS that protects privacy without sacrificing utility? Considering putting linux on a 2nd PC

Essentially any Linux distro protects privacy. You'd kinda have to go out of your way to find one that doesn't, because there's no online account connected to your install for any of them.

If you're reasonably technical, you can make nearly any use-case work on nearly any distro, but if you have choice paralysis, my top recommendations would be CachyOS if you plan to play games, and Mint otherwise.

Personally I'm happy with EndeavourOS. I picked it to find a general purpose distro similar to the Steam Deck (KDE and arch based) but with a more user-friendly installer.

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#173

Post by Rendello »

Terr_ wrote: post #129
weberer wrote: post #24

The AI aspect of this is a red herring. The real problem is that they're secretly adding in a unique identifier into every image you create. If somebody does not like your meme, they can just send a copyright subpoena to Microsoft to instantly get your full name, address, email, phone number, and any other data associated with your Microsoft account. Just like age verification, this is another weapon in the war again…

> a unique identifier into every image you create Printing (even text) is also a risk: It's very likely your printer is secretly adding marks to the page that contain its serial number and the current timestamp. [0] Meanwhile Microsoft (and Apple) have "telemetry" harvesting those serial numbers of all internal and external devices you've ever had connected or reachable. Then they link them to your MS/Apple account,…

> It's very likely your printer is secretly adding marks to the page

It's most likely how the FBI caught NSA leaker Reality Winner:

> Both journalists and security experts have suggested that The Intercept's handling of the documents, which included publishing the documents unredacted and including the printer tracking dots, was used to identify Winner as the leaker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#174

Post by kube-system »

kvuj wrote: post #94
petjuh wrote: post #70

This reminds me that in the USSR they had typewriters that added an identifier somehow that could be traced back to that particular typewriter (and who it was sold to)

You have no idea how deep this rabbit hole goes. Search for EFF printers secret tracking. Virtually all commercial printers embed an invisible identifier on every page printed.

Virtually all color laser printers and copiers.

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#175

Post by urbnspacecowboy »

sixothree wrote: post #6

I think it would be nice if all cameras digitally signed pictures. You could prove the photo was real.

And then some incriminating photo is made with your forged signature. "Not like that, not like that!"

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#176

Post by b5n »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #165
b5n wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This supports my initial reply. This was an f2fs bug in a bleeding edge kernel released only seven days earlier. The thread suggests perfectly reasonable mitigations, especially for an arch user: use the lts kernel or downgrade to 6.8.9. If you're not familiar with linux and/or don't want to deal with trivial issues periodically, don't hang out at the bleeding edge. There are plenty of boring and/or beginner friendly…

Ok fair point, here's plenty more of the same on stable. My point is Linux is always fine right until it isn't. Then you're back to a day of debugging your update. https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=218770 https://lore.kernel.org/linux-f2fs-devel/20240409203411.1885... https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2511.2/07280.html https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2511.2/07260.html https://bugzilla.su…

Most of these links weaken your claim rather than support it. The lkml links are patch submissions in a _development_ discussion, not ordinary users running a stable distro. The f2fs bugzilla links are the same issue we already discussed, a regression in the brand-new 6.9 kernel released only days earlier, with the fix landing in 6.9.3. The suse bug is an upstream e2fsprogs issue. This is precisely the kind of issue distro package maintainers can catch, patch, or avoid before it reaches ordinary users on a stable release. The launchpad link is another development discussion, not an example of ordinary users experiencing a bug in a stable release.

Linux does experience regressions, but your argument conflates upstream development, bleeding edge releases, and stable distro releases. Those distinctions are fundamental to how linux distributions work, and these links don't support the claim you're making.

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#177

Post by Terr_ »

varispeed wrote: post #161
Terr_ wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a unique identifier into every image you create Printing (even text) is also a risk: It's very likely your printer is secretly adding marks to the page that contain its serial number and the current timestamp. [0] Meanwhile Microsoft (and Apple) have "telemetry" harvesting those serial numbers of all internal and external devices you've ever had connected or reachable. Then they link them to your MS/Apple account,…

and then in few years a new mono-mustachioed or mono-browed leader will emerge who declares memes a blasphemy punishable by death and will call up all the telemetry gathered to punish all involved.

"I don't worry because I have nothing to hide, based on my perfectly accurate perception of today's political and legal forces in my state and nation which will stay safely static forever."

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#178

Post by Modified3019 »

qurren wrote: post #59
rexpop wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is broadly impractical for the average citizen. A scalable solution would be to make this sort of thing illegal.

> This is broadly impractical for the average citizen. No it's not. Sign up for a virtual mailbox for $15-$25/month. > A scalable solution would be to make this sort of thing illegal. I'm posting this in the genuine interest of people being able to maintain anonymity from data leaks, privacy leaks, and in general not needing to tell businesses more personal information than is necessary to render services. This is in…

> No it's not. Sign up for a virtual mailbox for $15-$25/month.

You are out of touch.

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#179

Post by clickety_clack »

I admit it’s a while since I’ve used windows, but it’s such a shock to hear that MS Paint isn’t just a point and click pixel coloring app anymore. It seems like they could have left it as a pure “paint” app and added the fancy stuff to some new image editor or something.

I guess they’ve optimized their workforce to just keep making changes so they get promoted rather than just creating really good software.

Re: MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

#180

Post by darig »

clickety_clack wrote: post #179

I admit it’s a while since I’ve used windows, but it’s such a shock to hear that MS Paint isn’t just a point and click pixel coloring app anymore. It seems like they could have left it as a pure “paint” app and added the fancy stuff to some new image editor or something. I guess they’ve optimized their workforce to just keep making changes so they get promoted rather than just creating really good software.

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