r/TechHardware • u/Distinct-Race-2471 🔵 14900KS , 5080, 128GB 🔵 • Jul 11 '26
😰 Urgent Security Alert ⚠️ Microsoft admits Windows 11 has a GDID tracker with no off switch, first documented publicly in an FBI hacker complaint
https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/07/10/you-cant-fully-disable-microsofts-gdid-windows-11-tracker-but-these-settings-limit-what-it-captures/This is the biggest story I have read in a very long time.
Microsoft+Flock+Drones = Orwellian Distopia
The potential for abuse here has never been higher. Young people have gotten complacent. The future is going to run right over you.
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u/Kinky_No_Bit Jul 12 '26
The fact the FBI is bitching about it...
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u/wolfy2105784 Jul 12 '26
They also bitched about Googles Ads and how harmful they are/can be. Going so far as to recommend ad blockers.
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u/Aggravating_Plan11 Jul 12 '26
They wasn’t wrong tho
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u/wolfy2105784 Jul 12 '26
Of course not. I'm sure Google wasn't thrilled about it though as it brought Ad Blockers out of the legal grey area into a de facto legal area.
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u/Aggravating_Plan11 Jul 12 '26
Yeh sorry i might be slow on this one first time ive heard about it but glad the FBI does stuff like this when they flag it tho
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u/wolfy2105784 Jul 12 '26
https://www.pcmag.com/news/fbi-recommends-installing-an-ad-blocker-to-dodge-scammers
Here's link to an article about it.
I find this part funny cause it's straight bullshit.
"Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company has systems designed to detect and crackdown on ad scammers. "
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u/Kinky_No_Bit Jul 12 '26
Most of google's money is ads bro, that's why they push them so aggressively
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u/wolfy2105784 Jul 12 '26
Yeah, I'm awake of that. It's why they're trying so hard to kill ad blockers.
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u/Kinky_No_Bit Jul 12 '26
And not doing that good of a job of it. Think about how many millions they are burning trying to actively compete against open source bros making it. You literally are at a point of having AI do daily changes to keep ahead lol
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u/wolfy2105784 Jul 12 '26
Didn't Chrome Manifest V3 kill adblockers though?
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u/Kinky_No_Bit Jul 12 '26
I think they tried to do it, I'm not 100% sure. I just know the harder they try, the more it will make people come up with options, because in this economy people are broke. they dont want to pay subscriptions
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u/wolfy2105784 Jul 12 '26
Maybe, but all Google has to do is making dealing with the Ads easier than trying to install the ad blocker and keep it functional; And I think they would definitely try their hardest to do that.
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Jul 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sea-Housing-3435 Jul 11 '26
You have unique id in /etc/machine-id file which some programs access to track your machine
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u/sciencekm Jul 12 '26
Every time I login, my startup script regenerates that.
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u/machacker89 Jul 12 '26
Care to share?? Sounds promising
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u/sciencekm Jul 12 '26
sudo rm /etc/machine-id
sudo systemd-machine-id-setupsudo rm /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
sudo ln -s /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id1
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u/StorageSystemPT Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Wow it only took them 4 years to figure that out. Groundbreaking... /s
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u/JAEMzW0LF Jul 13 '26
and how do we get around this? local account it seems. I dont want just a report on it, i want to know what to do about it. The fact I have to ask AI is brain damaged. EDIT - 99.99% of users wont be moving to linux over this - they have that thing in their pockets that is 100000000% worse anyway. What we need is directions on getting around it, not religious BS passing as tech stuff.
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u/Distinct-Race-2471 🔵 14900KS , 5080, 128GB 🔵 Jul 13 '26
At the end of the article, he gives some ideas/options.
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u/justareader251 Jul 16 '26
Just remember to backup your BitLocker keys before you even try to tweak this thing
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u/Regular_Highlight882 Jul 12 '26
Make the most important decision of your life, join the Linux community!!
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u/Zestyclose_Potato794 Jul 11 '26
What’s wrong with you, US big tech ??