Every time something like this comes out I’m reminded how much telemetry exists that most users never think about.
Hardly surprising. Fuck Microslop!
Early iPhones all had unique UDIDs that were SDK accessible. It wasn’t long before it was used to connect location data to devices and devices with specific users. Apple’s solution was to yank it away from developers and go with an identifier the users could rescind and reset (the ADID). It still let apps track people, but there was always the risk users would reset it and break the chain of data gathering.
The real solution is to limit access to the information as-needed. Like for maintenance, or warranty repairs. Everybody else can go pound sand. In the desktop/laptop world, a lot of hardware vendors just blithely let anyone access unique hardware IDs, which leads to the same privacy outcome.
MS is part of the surveillance tech that leo uses.
Linux distros have the same kind of device ID mechanism (
/etc/machine-idor/var/lib/dbus/machine-id)… the only difference is how applications use it.Y’all are probably tired of hearing it, but Linux has come a long way, especially for gaming; spin up a VM and try a few distros out.
I’ve used Linux desktop for over 25 years now
It was mostly ready for all that time. I installed KDE Linux on my mother in law’s computer for basic browsing and games like solitaire 15 years ago. She was in her late 60s and loved using it for almost a decade.
Linux today is not “ready”, it’s the only serious choice for an operating system for everyone
Yep, I installed Aurora on an aging parent’s laptop, because I was worried they’d be the target of some well-crafted malware campaign (hence why I went atomic). Plus the parent doesn’t have good privacy practice, and I know Microsoft was datamining everything they were doing.
Start with Debian to be stable for a learning experience, then to Fedora to play around, finally Arch when the neck beard grows in.
i know this is mostly a joke but I feel like beginners would have an easier time with fedora than debian
I haven’t used Fedora since Core 2 came out in … fuck, 2004? Ok, I need to revisit that one.
Debian has far more support from 3rd party software vendors than Fedora. That’s one reason I stick with Debian.
For sure, but fedora comes with the new anaconda installer which is easy asf for beginners. I feel like the Debian installed could use a major UX makeover if were recommending it to beginners
LMDE. Best of both.
tbf, lately, linux major progress is not hammering its own dick.
That’s why all my devices running that piece of shit stay at work. Far away from my network.
Why is there never any more detail how the GDID is then used to collect information?
The complaint says Microsoft had records showing that on May 12, 2025, at 19:21 UTC, the GDID associated with Stokes’ computer “accessed, among other ngrok pages, ‘https://dashboard[.]ngrok.com/signup,’ the ngrok page to set up an ngrok account.”
How do the records show a GDID in connection to the website?
Iirc other articles were specifying he was also using Edge AND had edge cloud sync or w/e enabled
hacker
Uh huh
TBF nVidia and Intel components supposedly had the same sort of capability for many years now: unique device ids.
But yeh, fuck windowsm