Wacom tablets track every app you open

Post by bitwize » Wed, Feb 05, 2020, 7:08 PM UTC

lonelappde wrote: post #150

_mdpn wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 o…

The first part is long since true. Courts have already (wrongly) established that you have no expectation of privacy in anything you entrust to a third party agent like a bank or a cloud service. If you give the provider a key to your stuff, they can give it to law enforcement. The latter is a tougher desecration of the constitution to sell.

Post by bitwize » Wed, Feb 05, 2020, 7:12 PM UTC

penagwin wrote: post #85

Joe-Z wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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. Also I don't know all the details here - I know that Vizio TVs where collecting data and explicitly kept the IP a…

Post by egdod » Wed, Feb 05, 2020, 7:26 PM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #160

babypuncher wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open source drivers are rare on Windows because manufacturers almost always ship proprietary drivers that are good enough, and Windows users clearly have no issues running closed-source software. Proprietary drivers on Linux are often crap, if they even exist at all.

Windows users should push for FOSS drivers as well also when the proprietary ones run perfectly. Privacy and security issues aside, being forced to depend on a closed driver means that the manufacturer can make the product obsolete just by stopping support on newer Windows versions, therefore turning the product essentially into trash, thus forcing the user to buy a new one.

Post by djhworld » Wed, Feb 05, 2020, 7:28 PM UTC

Post by egdod » Wed, Feb 05, 2020, 7:30 PM UTC

Spivak wrote: post #143

lightswitch05 wrote: post #45

This is just one of many reasons to use StevenBlack's Hosts [1] list to block this type of behavior. While it doesn't currently block link.wacom.com, it would have prevented the subsequent requests google analytics. It works even better when paired with a PiHole [2] to protect all devices on the network. [1] https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts [2] https://pi-hole.net/

I mean I put Pihole on all my networks but this is at best a solution to “nice malware” that doesn’t bother to hardcode addresses or perform lookups via an attacker controlled DNS server. You can catch slightly more aggressive malware by forcing all DNS traffic to your server at the network level but you’re now playing the role of malicious network operator. I would whitelist this to only devices you own.