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Wacom tablets track every app you open

robertheaton.com

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Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#181

Post by JohnFen »

13hunteo wrote: post #44
ipython wrote: post #21

The best part is where the author admits to using google analytics himself to track who visits his blog. At some point we all have to say enough is enough.

I've read a lot of comments recently about how Google Analytics is bad, but no one explain why. Can I ask why this is not something people want? Is it not anonymised?

> Can I ask why this is not something people want?

I block it because the data it collects is none of Google's business. Being "anonymized" doesn't make it any better.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#182

Post by duxup »

vageli wrote: post #119
penagwin wrote: post #85

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

> 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?

Like a survey? I'm not sure the information would be all that accurate.

If you want to put resources into "hey folks like to use this product with ours" you need accurate information.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#183

Post by JohnFen »

ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #128

I know privacy is a big deal, and this is not cool in general but I kind of don't mind Wacom doing this. If Wacom's users are starting to use a niche program outside of the Adobe suite, I'd like them to know about it so they can fully support it. And its not like I'm going to be using my Wacom tablet with very many programs. Its not like it can replace a mouse unless you are a crazy person...

I'm sure that most people feel as you do. So manufacturers should get informed consent before doing the data collection -- that way, you can give such consent and people who feel differently about such tracking can withhold it. It's win-win.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#184

Post by TheRealPomax »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #86
_jal wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> would that still be problematic? Yes. When thinking about data, you need to think about orthogonal uses. Can you imagine reasons why someone might subpoena data to determine whether Photoshop was being used on my home desktop machines at a particular time? They might not care that it was Photoshop at all.

Any data collection of course has a privacy cost and should of course be opt in. What about aggregate data limited to art apps? For example if it only sends a monthly summary: used photoshop with a wacom tablet for 15 hours this month, illustrator for 3 hours this month?

If that's the kind of behavioural information they want, they can pay for it just like anyone else. That's the kind of data that should absolutely not be expected to be free.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#185

Post by TheRealPomax »

0xff00ffee wrote: post #53

Great article! I love how he MITM'd Wacom on his host machine. Slick! Also this: "I dug around in the driver’s logfile and found the following snippet that confirmed my suspicions..." Arms race time: this is an alert to shady developers to not put meaningful messages about data collection in their log files.

Real shady devs already don't do this. All signs here point to "salaried employees being asked to implement a feature, and just following the ticket to the letter".

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#186

Post by gruez »

bitwize wrote: post #161
lonelappde wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Constitution schmonstitution. Just say the magic words -- "national security" -- and that problem goes away. The NSA is already selecting people with "Linux" and "Tor" in their search histories for added scrutiny.

>The NSA is already selecting people with "Linux" [...] in their search histories for added scrutiny.

Source for this? If it's true it would be both sad and hilarious.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#187

Post by lightswitch05 »

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.

I don't think anyone would make the argument that a PiHole is a replacement for following best practices in terms of computer and network security. I'm just pointing out that a PiHole can block google analytics and other common violators of privacy. Its not a security tool and isn't advertised as such.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#188

Post by stefan_ »

babypuncher wrote: post #129
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…

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.

There is also the little matter of Windows (since 7 I think?) requiring kernel drivers to be code signed, unless you want to run your system with a permanent "Development mode" text overlay, not to mention the arcane procedure required to activate that in the first place. (You can't add another cert to the trusted set, either.)

So that puts a little damper on the whole "open source" thing. Of course it is also not effective at all, Stuxnet was famously signed by Realtek.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#189

Post by floatingatoll »

jrockway wrote: post #170

I wonder what the comfortable medium between privacy and letting developers get feedback about how well their code works is. It seems to me like Wacom just wants to know if their drivers work, so they can focus engineering efforts around fixing the issues that are affecting their users. "Oh hey, the new beta of Photoshop breaks our drivers!" They don't make a "cloud product" and they have an obligation to make their…

The way Steam handles the occasional hardware survey requests, which are purely opt-in, seems appropriate here. “Please select which applications you use your Wacom with” with a permanent opt-out checkbox would be quite acceptable. (Steam knows what games we play but not beyond that; Wacom must ask us to specify which apps we ‘play’ since the OS can’t be more specific.)

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#190

Post by swiley »

stefan_ wrote: post #188
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.

There is also the little matter of Windows (since 7 I think?) requiring kernel drivers to be code signed, unless you want to run your system with a permanent "Development mode" text overlay, not to mention the arcane procedure required to activate that in the first place. (You can't add another cert to the trusted set, either.) So that puts a little damper on the whole "open source" thing. Of course it is also not ef…

That’s trivially easy to get around by installing you’re own CA cert when you install the driver.

This is arguably worse security wise but it makes the driver install process identical to the way it used to be as far as the average consumer can tell. This is why (IMO) free software is so important, to the point where I’ve begun to agree with the radicals and think it should be mandatory.

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