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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."

17 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 SJHillman · · Score: 5, Funny

      For the same reason they ship in styrofoam. You want something nice and bloaty with no real substance to keep it safe.

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

  2. Dirty move by Lenovo by acoustix · · Score: 2

    I realize that most business models are usually wiped/imaged anyway, but this is more disgusting behavior by Lenovo. Stuff like this will keep me from buying and recommending their products.

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    1. Re:Dirty move by Lenovo by khellendros1984 · · Score: 2

      WHY? Is there not enough money in the sales of the hardware?

      PC hardware is fairly low-margin and has been for a long time. Manufacturers look for anything they can find to bump their profits up. Often that includes a bunch of "trialware", "partner offers", and other crap preloaded on the machine. There's been a certain amount of backlash from customers about easily-visible adware like that, so it makes some sense that Lenovo would try to get the same benefits by hiding it on the computer instead.

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    2. Re:Dirty move by Lenovo by FranTaylor · · Score: 2

      I realize that most business models are usually wiped/imaged anyway

      how many times do I have to post this link:

      https://thehackernews.com/2015/08/lenovo-rootkit-malware.html

      "Lenovo Caught Using Rootkit to Secretly Install Unremovable Software"

    3. Re:Dirty move by Lenovo by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

      I realize that most business models are usually wiped/imaged anyway, but this is more disgusting behavior by Lenovo. Stuff like this will keep me from buying and recommending their products.

      I know it's cool to get outraged, and I'm certainly not comfortable with spying in general, but I actually read the article and it's kind of weird.

      It's repeatedly iterated that the feedback tool gathers information on Lenovo's own software only. Lenovo business machines don't ship with much. There's a more flexible power-manager, a tool that checks if your hardware is falling part (does memory tests, hard drive SMART tests etc periodically), and a tool that makes it easy to download updated drivers and BIOS. There's typically not much that has what you'd think of as "data".

      Sure, it's valuable to Lenovo to know how many people disable the scheduled hardware tests, or opt to remove the bundled AV software immediately upon install. It's valuable to them to know how often people use their System Update to keep up-to-date, and how often all of this stuff simply doesn't work. Even knowing the average user's preference in power management settings is useful.

      While it's entirely possible that this is also gathering things it shouldn't, by and large this all seems a case of "should not care".

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
  3. Not personally Identifiable; Bullshit it isn't by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 2

    Do these guys not know about information theory or do they simply not care? Give a good demographer a few tiny tidbits (IP Address is often enough) and they have all the personally identifiable information they need. Maybe not enough to convict someone but well enough to be very very sure as to who it is.

    People keep talking about utilities such as ad block and VPNs as being about cleaning up the browser and running torrents but these tools are also about cutting off the marketing and demographics folks from our private lives.

    So when the MBAs at Lenovo think that we won't mind, they are wrong, not only wrong that I won't buy their products but that as a computer person I will strongly recommend that no company I work for get them or any person that I know.

    So they pull this stunt, for what, a few extra dollars for some marketing sleazebags? This won't stop everyone from buying their computers but by this point I doubt that few /. users will be buying their products. Even this tiny fraction of their customer base must be worth more than whatever tiny gains they made.

    This is a classic example of spreadsheet thinking combined with a stovepiped company structure. The people who implemented this probably made their tiny corner of Lenovo look good on a spreadsheet while not really caring about the big picture because that wasn't their job in their little stovepipe. Even now as the company takes a hit they are probably fighting any attempts to cut them off from this information and potentially this tiny revenue stream.

  4. 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.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  5. Not on my laptop! by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lenovo Collects Usage Data On ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkStation PCs

    See, this kind of crap is why I always wipe new laptops and install a fresh copy of Windows 10.

    What?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  6. Re:Open Hardware by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

    Where is all the open-source "libre" hardware that we were promised 2-to-3 years ago?

    Software programmers usually don't require very much beyond decent computers and sufficient time. Hardware designers ultimately require silicon fabs - it's expensive to even get production time in one, never mind to own one. And if you end up with a serious bug that didn't show up until the first chips came off the line, then it's big bucks all over again to fix it.

    I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who donate their time and effort to create libre software, and I would never expect them to magically come up with the funds to create open hardware to go along with it. If you're so keen on libre hardware, why don't you get involved, do some research, and maybe start a crowd-funding effort?

    There is no competition in hardware, anymore.

    There is no real competition anywhere anymore, at least among large corporations. The best you'll find is 'co-opetition'. Why? Because so many people keep supporting broken models of governance, (if they bother to think about such things at all), and they keep bending over and lubing up to make it easy for multi-nationals to have their way. They have a captive market, (courtesy of our indifference), so it's both easier and cheaper for them to dispense with real competition altogether and just pay lip service to it instead.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  7. Re:Peoples (I)Republic(A)ofChina(Y) by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can take the laptop out of China, but you can't take the Chinese out of the laptop.

    The main problem with Chinese laptops is that an hour later you want to buy another one.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  8. Re:Who's left? by khellendros1984 · · Score: 2

    My employers. The hardware's decent, and they reimage every machine before it's delivered to the office. It's not like one corporation's going to care what another corporation does if it doesn't cause a practical problem (read as: cost them money). An amoral entity can't take a moral stand.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  9. Re:Who's left? by FranTaylor · · Score: 2

    My employers. The hardware's decent, and they reimage every machine before it's delivered to the office.

    he he he, they think they are so smart:

    https://thehackernews.com/2015/08/lenovo-rootkit-malware.html

    "Lenovo Caught Using Rootkit to Secretly Install Unremovable Software"

  10. 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?

  11. 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