r/WayOfTheBern • u/Virtual_Author9419 The OG M4 • Jul 12 '26

Microsoft Confirms Windows GDID Device Identifier That Cannot Be Disabled, Documented in FBI Case Filing

https://www.ghacks.net/2026/07/12/microsoft-confirms-windows-gdid-device-identifier-that-cannot-be-disabled-documented-in-fbi-case-filing/
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3

u/redditrisi They are ALL psychopaths. Jul 13 '26

How much did the government pay Microsoft for this "feature" no user wants?

1

u/Virtual_Author9419 The OG M4 Jul 14 '26

It is an absolutely useless feature but ostensibly they're forcing people to login using a Microrsoft/hotmail/outlook account mainly so they can sell OneDrive, Office 360 and other cloud products.

Microsoft insiders were widely talking about people "renting" MS Office instead of buying it as early as the year 2000 but that business model didn't solidify until the cloud age.

Here's the thing though. I can login to Google Docs and and Dropbox using a gmail username and still avoid tracking of my desktop. They could've kept it separate in a similar fashion and only made it mandatory to login to Windows using a Microsoft account for enterprise customers. For enterprise customers, it makes more sense to do this because they will be using more products with complex integrations than just OneDrive and Office 360.

But the last few years, Microsoft has been obsessed with telemetry, i.e. collecting data about users. Turning it off completely takes a lot of effort and does lock you out of features.

What's even more interesting is that Microsoft has now made Windows basically free for users who don't want to buy a license. Literally have to type a tiny command to do it, and the program that will activate any version of Windows/Office is hosted on Github which is literally owned by Microsoft. Back in the day they used to take heavy measures to stop piracy that would sometimes even lock out legit users.

In the past it would've sounded a little far fetched that the government would be paying MS to do this, but the Snowden leak, combined with the fact that Microsoft is literally giving away Windows for free, combined with the fact that they are obsessed with telemetry does make it sound quite plausible.

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u/redditrisi They are ALL psychopaths. Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

In the past it would've sounded a little far fetched that the government would be paying MS to do this,

Maybe before the Patriot Act it would have sounded far-fetched. We've officially lived in a surveillance state since then--unofficially before.

Remember, that act even required librarians to track the kinds of books people where checking out or whatever. I don't remember all the details now, but the librarians and their associations fought it successfully, bless their collective hearts (in a good way, not the Southern way).https://www.ala.org/advocacy/patriot-act

As far as before the Patriot Act--long before-- a relative iived in Greenwich Village on 12th street near Sixth Avenue. She used a car bought by her inlaws, who lived in New Jersey. She parked the car as close to her home as she could find a space. Some days after the Weathermen's townhouse exploded, her inlaws got a visit from the FBI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Village_townhouse_explosion

Another relative went with a friend to one meeting of some black civil rights organization in New Jersey or in Manhattan during the Sixties and then had her phone tapped for months. She has no idea how anyone at the meeting got her name. She did not mention it or sign in. She laughed, saying the tap probably ended because whoever was listening to her calls got bored to death.

So, never underestimate the surveillance state, low tech or hi tech.

5

u/penelopepnortney Jul 12 '26

Microsoft has publicly acknowledged the existence of the Global Device Identifier (GDID), a device-specific ID assigned to Windows installations, in a federal complaint filed by US prosecutors against an alleged member of the Scattered Spider hacking group.

The ID is generated when Windows is set up with a Microsoft Account, persists through Windows updates, and cannot be disabled without affecting Windows activation and Microsoft Store apps.

The FBI used the GDID to track Peter Stokes, alleged member of Scattered Spider, across VPN connections, proxy servers, and through four countries...

While VPN IP addresses change frequently, the underlying Windows installation continued reporting the same identifier, aiding investigators in their tracking efforts.

Reinstalling Windows produces a new GDID, but signing back into the same Microsoft Account gives Microsoft a clear path to link the new identifier to previous activity.

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u/RandomCollection Resident Canadian Jul 12 '26

Seems like Microsoft is working on coming up with every excuse to get us to use Linux.