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Microsoft admits Windows 11 has a GDID tracker with no off switch, first documented publicly in an FBI hacker complaint (www.windowslatest.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/privacy@programming.dev
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[–] 13 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Soooo, what does it stop Google or Meta from using same thing that Windows already offers to track users? Because as we all know, shit like this is NEVER only used by the good guys only.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Google has been tracking you for over 15 years, what you mean?

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

    Not if you're not using any of their shit and actively blocking their garbage. But if they can just tap into the OS global ID that Microsoft slapped into the OS that's an issue.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

    My dude, if you are completely de-googled but still running windows (and, even worse, using a microsoft account), that is on you...

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  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago

    I still use Windows because despite Proton, it's a hassle to run games on Linux, especially multiplayer ones or use advanced features of Radeon Adrenalin that I just need. As for Microsoft account, fuck that shit.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    The device id isn't ever sent to Google or Meta servers. It's created via login data on the windows machine and then sent to Microsoft with other telemetry info to be able to cross reference errors occurring with other telemetry.

    At least my old company used to do something similar to track usage of internal tooling (and more importantly to alert us when users were seeing a bunch of unrecognized errors so we could alert and investigate quickly).

    That being said why would Google or Meta care about Microsoft's unique identifier? They most definitely have their own they are using to track telemetry data you send them to understand usage patterns and problems.

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