2y ago

PSA: Intel Graphics Drivers Now Collect Telemetry By Default

www.techpowerup.com PSA: Intel Graphics Drivers Now Collect Telemetry By Default

The latest version of Intel Arc GPU Graphics Software introduced an interesting change that isn't reflected in the Release Notes. The installer of the 101.4578 beta drivers add a "Compute Improvement Program" (CIP) component as part of the "typical" setup option that is enabled by default. Under the...

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Something needs to happen to clue in the average person about why this is such a problem. I don't know what that something is though. Continued breaches of privacy? The government and police continuing to make obvious use of the data they can easily buy from any of these companies? What is it going to take for people to care and for laws to be made to prevent more of this going forward?
I was talking to my insurance company the other day and they warned me that if I make any changes to my policy they'll drastically jack up my rate because of the changes in the economy. But I can bring it down a bit if I install their tracking software on my phone that can interface with my vehicle and send all of my driving data to them. It would tell them everywhere I ever go whenever I drive, my exact speed at any moment, braking habits, etc. Does anyone ever say yes to this? Do people realize that they could sift through everything you've ever done effortlessly with AI to find that one time in your life you came to a rolling stop at a deserted stop sign and claim you're a dangerous driver who doesn't follow the rules of the road in order to deny your claim?
Is there a chance in hell that one day this won't be a requirement just to have vehicle insurance? Why isn't everyone up in arms about their data being harvested and sold to the highest bidder? Why are there not laws being made against this kind of undemocratic, authoritarian control over people? I am so disappointed in my fellow man, both the ones guilty of the harvesting and everyone who couldn't be bothered to complain and put a stop to this.
- It already is. The average citizen just doesn't give a crap about privacy.
- This is why free (libre) software is important
  
  Have to have some kind of hardware to run that software on. And that hardware needs proprietary drivers.
  Hardware is ridiculously expensive to develop and manufacture so don't count on any competition that isn't already doing it.
- I was talking to my insurance company the other day and they warned me that if I make any changes to my policy they’ll drastically jack up my rate because of the changes in the economy.
  This is when you sternly warn the agent/sales rep that this behavior will result in you seeking a new insurance company AND agent for all of your needs
  
  I did. He assured me in more professional terms that they don't give a shit. I do a lot of business with them and have been a client in good standing since I became an adult. They apparently have nothing set up to retain customers who leave over this, which would indicate that hasn't been an issue for them. Or they might be banking on me not following through, but that just means they don't know me very well. When it comes time for me to make those changes to my policy, I'm gone.
- I wonder if it'd be worth spoofing packets with some automation? Get that sweet discount and still maintain your privacy?
  If insurance companies mandate tracking I could see new efforts to do this like piracy and adblocking came about.
  
  Imagine getting caught and having your claim denied or being sued for insurance fraud. I'm happy to use ublock origin, but what you're describing is playing with fire. We need to make sure it never gets to this point in the first place by making it illegal for insurance companies to do this.
- Plenty of private companies to donate to. EFF is the first that comes to mind.
  But spying on the public is ridiculously valuable to both corporations and government alike so it seems like an astronomical hill to climb.
- Oh crap I was about to try changes to my auto policy on the lizard's online portal to see if I could get it any cheaper while still having enough liability, uninsured, property damage, collision and comprehensive for my litigious state. Glad I saw your warning not to consider modifications in this screwy market. Thank you!
  I still may shop it to a different company before my end-August 45% rate hike. Not considering the phone spyware discount though, for the reasons you mentioned.

God dammit! Im going to build my own hardware from scratch!
Common boys! Pack the shovels we need silicon!
- In the spirit of not getting the joke, Pine64 could be worth checking out for whoever shares this sentiment. It's the closest thing to user friendly free open source hardware at the moment, and their laptop (the #PinebookPro) actually looks pretty neat. @PINE64 @pine64eu
- You could just uncheck one option
  https://youtu.be/pG0yq2ATWbc
  
  They could just not collect data...
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/pG0yq2ATWbc
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

2023 Might actually be the year I become a ludite at this rate. Did every tech company just decide this would be the year to make everything shitty?
- The luddites were against technology being used to abuse and subjugate workers and drive down wages, so yes I’m absolutely a Luddite.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
- Might as well do it while everyone's anger is focused elsewhere.
- Interest rates have motivated corporations to find creative ways to maintain profits. God forbid they just make less money for a while.

I'm not totally against all telemetry... but can they at least be transparent about when they use it, and exactly what they're collecting? It really could be as simple as just defaulting to asking the user.
- Debian approaches this sort of information gathering in the most respectful way I’ve seen so far. During the installation process there’s a screen where you are presented the option to participate in sharing package popularity statistics. It’s opt-in, just like it should be. Doing this sort of thing with the possibility to opt-out is super shady, but unfortunately very common these days.
  
  You can also apt install or purge popcon whenever you want.
- Same here as I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) some types of data that can be collected can be helpful to the driver devs, especially for arc but other than that everything else should be opt-in and they should ask for permission of the user

Can I psy on you? No
Can I collected "telemetry" data? Sure, here is key and 200% access to my data, take what you need when you need it.
- Is the former when they ambush you at random inopportune times to shout "OPPAN GANGNAM STYLE!", and do that cross-armed squat dance thing?
  You just got ~~dunked~~ psy'd on, bruh

Intel driver updates, once the very pinnacle of sobriety and professionalism, have degenerated into the wild west of driver dissemination reminiscent of the very early days of Windows adoption, where, sometime the shit works, and sometimes it doesn't.
There's been a good 20 years of knowing if you downloaded an intel driver, that shit is going to fix your fucking problem. Not any longer.
Over the last year, especially with the Intel Driver scan tool, the Video drivers have repeatedly caused my screen to blackout and I've had to restore the previous non intel provided driver for my Arc capable video chip. Bluetooth drivers have also been shit.
- Is this a known thing? I aways install everything that scanner suggests me.

only europe can fend off this bs
us companies are just a medium for american espionage.
- The USA is just one giant scam and it's citizens are the victims.
  
  agreed. all worldwide citizens suffer its existence.

This is why I trust no one when it comes to software setups.

Does this affect Linux users?
- it in the installer, qhere you can select telemetry, and i don't think they want to piss of companies that use linux, so this is just windows problem(and mesa programmers could just rip the shit out of the drivers anyway), but with the amont of windows telemetry i don't know why this people are complaining

Why....
- It's valuable information that will help them improve the state of their software and drivers. The why should be obvious enough, though it's not nice to have it forced upon you.

We all should move to Europe at this point

Fully understand the problematic precedent set by default / always on telemetry, but do we have anything to suggest that this collects any form of PII? I would imagine the data they collect can be previewed on their ToS or something along those lines but I haven't been able to find it.
Furthermore, is it safe to presume this change is specific to beta Arc drivers on Windows, or is this likely to become the norm?

it also happen on linux?
- No. Only on Windows.
  
  Thank Tux.

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