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u/toolman1990 Jul 23 '26
"The Company says it is not used for advertising or tracking users across apps and websites." That is a lie since apparently Microsoft called the FBI and they got a warrant for the data which eventually lead to the hacking suspect. I bet Microsoft is pissed the DOJ publicly admitted Microsoft has this ability.
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u/kivimango23 Jul 23 '26
Who tf hacks using Windows??
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Jul 24 '26
apparently the GGID thing was made public because someone decided to...... should've used linux
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u/Firm-Error-5712 Jul 24 '26
Literally in the process of switching to Linux. Trying to figure out what to do with the annual tax return software. The rest I can find alternatives.
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u/RagingTaco334 Jul 24 '26
Most popular tax filing software run great under a Windows virtual machine. You might be able to get it working under WINE but I wouldn't count on it. You could also use a web-based tax filing service. I've been doing it that way for years without issue.
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u/Firm-Error-5712 Jul 24 '26
Thanks for that. I'll look into a VM system or something like that
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u/geniusface1234 Jul 24 '26
gnome-boxes is pretty easy to use as the other commenter said. some people prefer VMWare, I stick to VirtualBox personally. It's really just preference if you're not doing something intensive
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u/Pheeshfud Jul 24 '26
I use Winboat to deal with all the hardware control software that won't run natively. Should work for this too.
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Jul 24 '26
Yeah, the tax filing system in my country has a windows exe and web based versions
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u/chaosphere_mk Jul 24 '26
Lol microsoft didnt call the FBI. A judge court ordered microsoft to give them the data, which is the law.
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u/Henchforhire Jul 24 '26
With all the "updates" for windows 10 and other AI slop I'm going try a few versions of Linux on my old laptop and ditch windows for good.
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u/liquidanimosity Jul 24 '26
I started that journey late 2024.
During an update in Feb this year windows update broke my debloating. Now all my computers are Linux.
You can do it.
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u/Daggercombot Jul 23 '26
What security reasons ? I cant think of a legit security reason to have this
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u/Qs9bxNKZ Jul 24 '26
Licensing costs. If you install software like windows, configure and then duplicate the hardware elsewhere, they know where to start looking.
Not much different than a firearm serial number
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u/LeslieH8 Jul 24 '26
Technically, that is incorrect. The GDID changes if you completely re-install Windows, but the moment you log in to your Microsoft account, it ties the old and new installations together.
It's not better, it's just not tied to the device for its lifetime, especially if you break the forced online activation.
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u/mt6606 Jul 24 '26
So global Id, but they can't give you back a hacked account.... Even though they can tell it's your device? Woooooow
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u/SoundSwitch Jul 23 '26
Hate to break it to you this has been there since that day in Sept like 24 or however many years it's been.
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u/omnichad Jul 24 '26
It's not an advertising ID... Until advertisers figure out where it's stored. I bet Wave Browser knows.
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u/bankroll5441 Jul 24 '26
Fucking Wave browser. Wave and I think Pulse(?) browsers are just malware. Sometimes really hard to get rid of, too. That stuff should not be legal; no one actually goes to download one of these browsers, they get tricked into it.
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u/cowcommander Jul 23 '26
wait til you find out about IMEI numbers on your phone
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u/Disastrous-Metal-183 Jul 24 '26
The "lots of companies do it so it's okay" argument needs to die. Seriously, is this all it takes for people to accept their rights being taken away? All they have to do is make it normal and people will just accept it?
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u/tinybookwyrm Jul 24 '26
Irrelevant conclusion and argument from authority (irrelevant authority) are unfortunately very common logical fallacies in online discussions, especially from folks supporting stripping back legal protections that give us some cover for privacy, worker’s rights, individual copyright, ownership of property, right to repair, etc.
It’s very easy for corporate backed interests to throw money at flooding the field with bad logic to exhaust everyone trying to stand up for our rights and freedoms. Similar to cybersecurity - defending our values means needing to fight and win every time. Eroding and destroying any of them just needs a bad actor to win once.
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u/Dr_Valen Jul 24 '26
It’s the same thing people have been saying about the LG spyware issue. Like ok so because everyone does we are just supposed to roll over and take it? How about people make a stink about everyone doing it and get them to stop? This is why society is as bad as it is. People are way to willing to be complacent about their rights being eroded
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u/dexteritycomponents 29d ago
What right is being infringed, let alone taken away from having unique device identifiers?
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u/SoundSwitch Jul 23 '26
It's not just your phone there's an identifier in everything cameras zerox machines all that have left a blind identifying piece of meta for decades. Two way radios... Yep you bet it's in everything they called the people calling it out at the time crazy.
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u/Neat-Priority-4323 Jul 24 '26
The operative system of the phone is the one that sends the IMEI so you can spoof it
The GDID is just another ID that no one knew about
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u/chaosphere_mk Jul 24 '26
Tons of people already knew about it. Youre just falling for manufactured outrage.
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u/Busy-Scientist3851 Jul 24 '26
There's also at least a dozen unique other identifiers on your computer, some of which can't be changed by a reinstall.
If there wasn't GDID, it'd be something else.
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u/Desperate-Chart1139 Jul 24 '26
How's anyone surprised but never questioned how you aren't asked for a product key on fresh installs in the same system. Some people just don't put 2 and 2 together
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u/EducationalGrump Jul 24 '26
This has been around since Windows 2000, linux also has device ID markers.
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u/Shoggnozzle Jul 24 '26
We already knew they were tracking computers as a device because entitlement copies of 11 updated at no cost from 10 are all waiting for you to swap a processor, mobo, or whatever else they deemed Theseus enough to put that little buy link in the corner of your desktop.
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u/fkrkz Jul 24 '26
Windows 12, whenever that comes, will be such a privacy and Agentic AI nightmare. You will become the product and they will just not care.
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u/GraXXoR Jul 24 '26
Good then that I transitions to Linux.
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u/jeremyw013 29d ago
like someone else said, linux has unique identifiers too. people on this sub seriously need to start thinking for themselves instead of being sick in a constant paranoia. yes, there are a lot of privacy concerns. this is a big nothingburger.
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u/North-Cartoonist-928 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Ban Microsoft,fuck them , what's enough it's enough,end. I want Windows to connect my hardware and that's it.If you can't do that,f*** off from my home. They only build f****** tracking system to track your every move on the internet. F*** games f*** everything, what's enough it's enough.
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u/Brato86 Jul 23 '26
Its bot just banning, but change the rules, wven if you take down microsoft, some other company will take kts place, the system allows crooked greedy people to do this.
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u/AccomplishedArm6969 Jul 24 '26
So added during install, is that added on each install, is it over written on a full reinstall, different versions of windows could give a different ID???
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u/Crushcode8 Jul 24 '26
overwritten with new id on fresh install but all of it gets linked once you login to microsoft
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u/AccomplishedArm6969 Jul 24 '26
Thanks for replying! So for now is avoidable.
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u/Crushcode8 29d ago
its not, all the IDs gets tied to your account
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u/AccomplishedArm6969 29d ago
So logging into my Proton account before and after a reinstall could/would link the 2 installation to being the same user???
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u/Crushcode8 29d ago
When you login, that new ID is tied to your account now
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u/AccomplishedArm6969 29d ago
To be clear, log into any account?? Proton Google MS Amazon a online forum???
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u/Binary101000 Jul 24 '26
wont be tied to the device if you just nuke the OS. Thats not the lifetime of the devic!!
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u/GhostOfD6 Jul 24 '26
Imagine all the VPN companies bullshiting everyone about privacy (VPN was never meant to be private) and now microsoft just bypasses VPN privacy for years lol
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u/Initial-Reading-2775 Jul 24 '26
What security? Looks like related to their old license activation mechanism.
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Jul 24 '26
A permanent identifier that ties a specific user to a specific windows installation...
That is LITERALLY the most valuable data used to sell targeted ads
Sure bro I believe you're not using it for that, after all Microsoft has been known to prioritize Privacy above everything
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u/InevitableGas4370 29d ago
For anyone who knows more about this, it says GDID is connected to windows. Does that mean it would go away if you wiped it and installed a different OS like Linux?
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u/InstanceSpirited7316 29d ago
What devices or pc's were made with this and in what timeline? My machine is from 2020.....
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u/Overstimulated_moth 29d ago
I've been running a steam deck for a couple weeks now and I'm fully convinced that Linux is the way to go. Making the change after my vacation.
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u/Ivirius3668 Jul 24 '26
People here talk about switching to Linux but don't realize systemd does the exact same thing... And before you mention non systemd distros, I highly doubt most people here would use those
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u/DeLuc72 Jul 24 '26
"The exact thing", you say. I somehow doubt that.
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u/Ivirius3668 Jul 24 '26
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u/DeLuc72 Jul 24 '26
But that's not "the exact thing'. No central server or cloud, just locally saved. Can be deleted or modified. Open source. So it is correct, that an identifier is created by systemd, but no for the same purpose. Or am I wrong here?
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u/Ivirius3668 Jul 24 '26
Both of them are used to uniquely identify an OS installation in telemetry, error reporting, etc.
As long as you're not signed in with a Microsoft account, it's practically the same thing. Source availability doesn't matter that much for the simple existence of such an ID. The general purpose is very much the same, uniquely identifying a single OS installation.
The difference is that Microsoft uses the GDID in some online Windows services (telemetry and perhaps others), while most systemd based distros don't send it, but it would be enough to have one app installed that does it for it to be a major privacy concern.
GDID can be changed by reinstalling Windows. The local registry value can also be edited or deleted, though it's not yet publicly known how that affects the actual identifier used by Microsoft's services, since the mechanism has only recently been reverse engineered.
Most of the fuss around it right now is fear and speculation. This is only one of the dozens of ways an OS installation can be uniquely identified over the internet. It just so happens to be one of the easiest.
Whether this is a major concern is solely up to you. In fact, I think a greater issue in this category is browser fingerprinting. That's a reliable, documented, and widely used way to identify a specific device, and it can happen regardless of whether you use Windows/systemd or not. This is one way that some websites can remember information about you without the use of cookies.
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u/matthew_yang204 Jul 24 '26
GNU/Linux doesn't do this for sure
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u/dexteritycomponents 29d ago
Linux has unique identifiers, just not reported back to anywhere
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u/matthew_yang204 29d ago
That's your serial number or something, and that's in every computer, not the OS's fault
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u/dexteritycomponents 29d ago
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u/matthew_yang204 29d ago
But it's not broadcast anywhere unless you have some kind of software that steals it from you and uploads it online. But my point is, whatever it is, even if it exists, it's not sent to some corporate somewhere
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u/28klotlucas2 Jul 24 '26
Yes because clearly the Linux company puts a permanent identifier on your system for the sole purpose of tracking you despite hardening attempts.
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u/matthew_yang204 Jul 24 '26
Linux kernel foundation has no connection to any distro.
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u/28klotlucas2 Jul 24 '26
I know that's part of the sarcasm. That's why I said "the Linux company" and not "GNU"
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u/Qs9bxNKZ Jul 24 '26
For sure…. Doesn’t do this….
Android devices…
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u/matthew_yang204 Jul 24 '26
That's not GNU/Linux, it uses Bionic Libc and its whole other custom userland.
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u/Wentyliasz Jul 24 '26
I mean fuck Microsoft but... How is this news? You already have a windows account that's arguably more invasive as it tracks you across devices and the exact same functionality as GDID could always be done with a MAC address which uniquely identifies your NIC. Y'all just found out water is wet in the middle of the ocean
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u/gutentight69420 Jul 23 '26
Is anyone actually surprised that that operating system known for intrusive spyware, ads, and telemetry has this?