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Wacom tablets track every app you open

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Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#131

Post by adamc »

Kalium wrote: post #120
vageli wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know this is the popular conclusion - but from a developer perspective, data such as what software your product is used with is INCREDIBLY valuable for project planning and prioritization. People hate web tracking, but knowing what browsers or devices are visiting your website can be enormously helpful. What happened to actually communicating with users to learn more about how they use the product?

That assumes a great deal about both the resources available to do it and the ability to get responses from a representative sample of customers. It's not challenging to see why someone might choose a one-time cost in software engineering over an ongoing cost in communication.

It's not challenging, but it's wrong. If you want to explain it to them, making a binding promise of what it would be used for, and have it be opt-in, that would be another thing.

It's not hard to see how to do it right.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#133

Post by [deleted] »

buddylw wrote: post #34
throwaway55554 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being actual operating systems, I can understand why. I mean, it's pretty convenient to know what's installed on my phone. However, a writing/drawing tablet doesn't need to. At all. Ever.

Wacom tablet drivers have application specific settings for compatibility. We should scrutinize all data collection, and this may be too far, but "[no need for tablet data collection] at all. Ever" is simply not true.

[deleted]

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#134

Post by criddell »

excerionsforte wrote: post #59

I'm fine with Wacom collecting this kind of data as long as it doesn't open any security holes. There are certain classes of products where I would not care what they collected as long as it was relevant to improving the product. i.e. Wacom wants to know popular apps I use my tablet on, ok. If they wanted to know my approx location though then I'd be alarmed.

Of course they want to know your approximate location. It will probably help them target ads for the next iteration of the tablet.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#135

Post by _mdpn »

leppr wrote: post #49
danShumway wrote: post #24

On Linux you'd be using the community-maintained drivers[0], so I assume this wouldn't be a problem (correct me if I'm wrong). But as far as I can tell, there's not equivalent Open Wacom drivers for Windows. People with more Windows knowledge than me: any thoughts on why? Is it just that someone using Windows probably doesn't care about Open drivers, so the demand isn't there? Or is there something about Windows that…

Clearly this isn't a trivial or very fun job (last time I used them, the Linux drivers were buggy as hell). Who would have the motivation to do it on Windows, where you have a driver that works and users have little expectation of privacy to begin with?

>users have little expectation of privacy to begin with?

The cynical side of me wonders how long it will be before prosecutors argue, with a straight face, that using evidence obtained from mass surveillance against people using Microsoft Windows is okay because Microsoft collects a massive amount of data so nobody should expect their files and activities to remain private; that there is or should be no expectation of privacy on such a system.

And then how long until warrant applications come in with supporting evidence that the subject of the warrant uses Linux and therefore their increased desire for privacy is prima facia evidence that they're doing something illegal.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#136

Post by Rapzid »

Joe-Z wrote: post #57
penagwin wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tracking the currently open application software side is perfectly within scope for a drawing tablet - they often have buttons that can be bound to keyboard shortcuts, etc. It makes sense that it should know when you're focused on Photoshop vs Google Chrome. But why are they sending this data to a server? My best guess is that this helps them focus on what software people are using. This allows them access to the pop…

IMO the more simple explanation is they want this data to sell to data aggregators, who can in turn enrich the profile they have on you. There's a similar thing going on with smart TVs, right?

It's certainly the more cynical explanation.

I believe wanting it for product development is just as simple.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#137

Post by janfoeh »

buddylw wrote: post #34
throwaway55554 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being actual operating systems, I can understand why. I mean, it's pretty convenient to know what's installed on my phone. However, a writing/drawing tablet doesn't need to. At all. Ever.

Wacom tablet drivers have application specific settings for compatibility. We should scrutinize all data collection, and this may be too far, but "[no need for tablet data collection] at all. Ever" is simply not true.

I strongly disagree. The driver does not have to collect an event log in order to react to focus changes and switch settings. It much less has to transmit this event log, let alone to a third party such as Google.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#140

Post by ryandrake »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #20

While this implementation obviously has privacy issues, the anonymized aggregate data would be quite interesting, e.g. how many people use photoshop, illustrator, etc. with their wacom tablets. The problem then seems to be more about the false positives. If you use "Half Life 3 Test Build" that is useless info for wacom because it (presumably) doesn't care about pen input. Q: If the data were filtered to just art/gra…

The collection of the data is almost never what’s problematic. What’s problematic is the lack of transparency about what is being collected (doing it to users in secret or burying it in a privacy policy somewhere), and the lack of a way for the user to consent or not consent to it via an opt-in or opt-out. If the company provided these, then this is kind of a non-story.
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