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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

#261

Post by the8472 »

catalogia wrote: post #245
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux purposely makes proprietary drivers crap. The kernel offers no stable binary interface so drivers become broken every single time linux updates unless the drivers get compiled as part of the kernel. This forces manufacturers to either decide that they will open source the drivers, not have any at all or put in the work to keep them up to date every release. It seems like forcing the all or nothing choice made a…

> Linux purposely makes proprietary drivers crap. As the situation on windows shows us, the alternative is drivers that are crap for other reasons. If Linux offered a stable binary interface for drivers, we'd have proprietary drivers that "worked" but were nevertheless still crap insofar as they were essentially malware, as is the case with this wacom driver.

And yet google is pushing hard to keep ABI stable in the name of extending android support because manufacturers just won't release their SoC drivers.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#262

Post by devteambravo »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #260
sizzle wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"just to make somebody with a limited lifespan feel powerful and rich." Wow that last sentence really puts things into perspective. How can be reverse course and throw a wrench in the system? We are the makers, we should be able to wrestle back control and do it democratically and get politicians on our side to legislate this ad industry into the ground.

First step would be to kill advertising-based models. Get them banned. Because it's the advertising industry's race to the bottom that poisons everything, and fuels the creation of surveillance infrastructure. With ad-related snooping gone, it will be much easier to rein in the remaining few players who misuse data in pursuit of optimizing their business models. (And yes, I know ads enable a lot of free content on-li…

Do you know of anyone working on such an effort?

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#263

Post by dontblink »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #260
sizzle wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"just to make somebody with a limited lifespan feel powerful and rich." Wow that last sentence really puts things into perspective. How can be reverse course and throw a wrench in the system? We are the makers, we should be able to wrestle back control and do it democratically and get politicians on our side to legislate this ad industry into the ground.

First step would be to kill advertising-based models. Get them banned. Because it's the advertising industry's race to the bottom that poisons everything, and fuels the creation of surveillance infrastructure. With ad-related snooping gone, it will be much easier to rein in the remaining few players who misuse data in pursuit of optimizing their business models. (And yes, I know ads enable a lot of free content on-li…

So go back to the 90s? Microsoft being the reigning king? Not sure if this time period was honestly better.

Or alternatively, give users ownership of their data like the EU has taken steps to do. Advertising is here to stay and provides its own use. But there could be something that forces transparency.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#264

Post by JohnFen »

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…

> from a developer perspective, data such as what software your product is used with is INCREDIBLY valuable for project planning and prioritization.

I don't think anybody is disputing that. But that its very valuable to devs does not excuse collecting it without getting the user's informed consent first.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#265

Post by II2II »

bitL wrote: post #223

It looks like everything in tech got poisoned, smart TVs taking screenshots, web apps tracking and matching user clicks, smartphones tracking locations realtime and who knows what else, desktop apps monitoring other apps and peripherals, creepy companies building profiles on everyone, health institutions selling data of their users... I want out, I didn't get into this field, keeping myself up-to-date and super capab…

Is Wacom's driver an example of excessive monitoring?

While the author presents the graphics tablet as a glorified mouse, tablets usually offer many more features. How those features interact with various applications is important, and they have to prioritize which applications they support. The data collection that the author describes may be viewed, internally, as part of that process.

Now I am not claiming that Wacom is doing the right thing, nor am I claiming that they are doing the right thing in the wrong way. Yet it is entirely possible that they feel justified in collecting that data for product development without having ulterior motives. Their failure may simply lay in the failure to recognize that many people are sensitive to data collection due to real, potential, or perceived abuses by other parties.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#266

Post by kick »

the8472 wrote: post #261
catalogia wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux purposely makes proprietary drivers crap. As the situation on windows shows us, the alternative is drivers that are crap for other reasons. If Linux offered a stable binary interface for drivers, we'd have proprietary drivers that "worked" but were nevertheless still crap insofar as they were essentially malware, as is the case with this wacom driver.

And yet google is pushing hard to keep ABI stable in the name of extending android support because manufacturers just won't release their SoC drivers.

Proprietary surveillance company is okay with manufacturers creating proprietary drivers to be used for surveillance. Shocking.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#267

Post by GuiA »

II2II wrote: post #265
bitL wrote: post #223

It looks like everything in tech got poisoned, smart TVs taking screenshots, web apps tracking and matching user clicks, smartphones tracking locations realtime and who knows what else, desktop apps monitoring other apps and peripherals, creepy companies building profiles on everyone, health institutions selling data of their users... I want out, I didn't get into this field, keeping myself up-to-date and super capab…

Is Wacom's driver an example of excessive monitoring? While the author presents the graphics tablet as a glorified mouse, tablets usually offer many more features. How those features interact with various applications is important, and they have to prioritize which applications they support. The data collection that the author describes may be viewed, internally, as part of that process. Now I am not claiming that Wa…

It’s 2020. We’re starting to develop a pretty solid framework around what is respectful to users and what isn’t, how to disclose things, ask for permission, etc. (All knowledge that has been acquired the hard way - through data breaches, users getting their personal data stolen because of a lazy software company, etc)

Wacom is a $500M company. They don’t get the benefit of the doubt.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#268

Post by marta_morena »

II2II wrote: post #265
bitL wrote: post #223

It looks like everything in tech got poisoned, smart TVs taking screenshots, web apps tracking and matching user clicks, smartphones tracking locations realtime and who knows what else, desktop apps monitoring other apps and peripherals, creepy companies building profiles on everyone, health institutions selling data of their users... I want out, I didn't get into this field, keeping myself up-to-date and super capab…

Is Wacom's driver an example of excessive monitoring? While the author presents the graphics tablet as a glorified mouse, tablets usually offer many more features. How those features interact with various applications is important, and they have to prioritize which applications they support. The data collection that the author describes may be viewed, internally, as part of that process. Now I am not claiming that Wa…

Or the failure may be on your end, believing that "many people are sensitive to data collection" while in fact, most people don't give a dusty fuck about it and happily share everything for saving a few bucks a month.

Hackernews is NOT the people. HN represents a TINY TINY fraction of users.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#269

Post by JohnFen »

moron4hire wrote: post #116
betageek wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, there are no application specific configs set on default install of Wacom drivers, just a generic 'All' profile. If, and only if, I had set up an app-specific config, then maybe Wacom would be vaguely justified in tracking when I open that specific app. 'wantonly collecting unrelated data' is exactly what they're doing.

We aren't talking about Facebook or Amazon or Google here. I think we can walk back the apocalypsism. Most companies aren't well-oiled, gigantic machines of user-data-manipulation. I'm sure there is a better way for Wacom to do things. I'm also pretty sure their staff are doing the best they can.

It doesn't matter if this is done by Facebook, Amazon, Google, or Joe's Basement Software Company, nor what the data is actually being used for. Doing this without obtaining the user's informed consent is unacceptable.

Re: Wacom tablets track every app you open

#270

Post by bitL »

II2II wrote: post #265
bitL wrote: post #223

It looks like everything in tech got poisoned, smart TVs taking screenshots, web apps tracking and matching user clicks, smartphones tracking locations realtime and who knows what else, desktop apps monitoring other apps and peripherals, creepy companies building profiles on everyone, health institutions selling data of their users... I want out, I didn't get into this field, keeping myself up-to-date and super capab…

Is Wacom's driver an example of excessive monitoring? While the author presents the graphics tablet as a glorified mouse, tablets usually offer many more features. How those features interact with various applications is important, and they have to prioritize which applications they support. The data collection that the author describes may be viewed, internally, as part of that process. Now I am not claiming that Wa…

It's just one more example, but one that is rather unexpected. It forces me to ask questions about why? and if we are so deep down that road that this level of monitoring/surveillance became the new normal and an expected outcome of production cycles? However, I think all the gaming companies have much more intrusive monitoring to prevent cheating, NVidia might need to do the same for their GeForce Experience and per-game customization, not forgetting creepy antivirus software like Avast etc.
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