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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."

2 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Outgoing White Listed Firewall by OzPeter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While I don't have a Lenovo, this sort of thing is why I have set a firewall on my MacBook to block all outgoing requests unless they are whitelisted by me. It was a real eye opener when I first saw the number of applications that were phoning home without me knowing.

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

    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.

    Spot on. Some variants even come with a customized version of Ubuntu pre-installed, which uses some binary blob drivers that are actually inferior to the Linux native ones. Then you wipe and install your $favorate_distro knowing that the hardware will be well supported. I don't know whether they still sell the models any more. Back then I chose them for excellent Linux compatibility and no MS-tax.

    Also their form design is fairly friendly to lightweight DIY repair. It's easy to tear down and put back. The keyboard can be easily detached and replaced. At least easier than with HP or Dell...

    But they seem to be going down the crap road in recent years, and Linux hardware support has progressed so much that most hardware now works "out of the box", so they're losing that advantage. There's no point of supporting this leech company any more.