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Lenovo Collects Usage Data On ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkStation PCs

Posted by samzenpus on from the fool-me-once dept.

New submitter LichtSpektren writes: Following up Lenovo's blunders regarding the Superfish malware and altered BIOS, Michael Horowitz at ComputerWorld reports that a refurbished ThinkPad he bought includes Lenovo spyware under the guise of "Customer Feedback". After some digging around, he found the following in a support document: "Lenovo says here that all ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkStation PCs, running Windows 7 and 8.1, may upload 'non-personal and non-identifying information about Lenovo software application usage' to 112.2o7.net."

4 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Didn't we all agree the other day that ThinkPads are for running Linux?

    1. Re:Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Didn't we all agree the other day that ThinkPads are for running Linux?

      We sure did. I can attest: T-series Thinkpads are *excellent* for that. As far as Windows goes, we've already been hearing about the phoning home it's doing in Windows 10 and the hotfixes for versions 7 and 8. The best thing you can do with a Windows PC: install Linux and run that instead.

  2. Abandon all hope. by devslash0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The worst part is that they like to switch back to their 'preferred settings' once in a while, ex. during updates, without you knowing. You may think that once you follow that clever removal guide you are done. You are not. It requires constant vigilance. The first law of IT Security: "If someone can run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore." Will we live to see the day when we are back in control of our data and devices?

  3. Re:Who's left? by FranTaylor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Somehow, we got into a discussion of the responsibility of management. Holden made the point that management's responsibility is to the shareholders – that's the end of it. And I objected. I said, 'I think you're absolutely wrong. Management has a responsibility to its employees, it has a responsibility to its customers, it has a responsibility to the community at large.' And they almost laughed me out of the room."

    - David Packard