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Nvidia Adds Telemetry To Latest Drivers (ghacks.net)
An anonymous reader shares a report on Ghack: Telemetry -- read tracking -- seems to be everywhere these days. Microsoft pushes it on Windows, and web and software companies use it as well. While there is certainly some benefit to it on a larger scale, as it may enable these companies to identify broader issues, it is undesirable from a user perspective. Part of that comes from the fact that companies fail to disclose what is being collected and how data is stored and handled once it leaves the user system. In the case of Nvidia, Telemetry gets installed alongside the driver package. While you may customize the installation of the Nvidia driver so that only the bits that you require are installed, there is no option to disable the Telemetry components from being installed. These do get installed even if you only install the graphics driver itself in the custom installation dialog.Further reading on MajorGeeks.
Will it report the percentage of pixels that are flesh colored?
Installing nvidia has always been a bit of a pain in Linux...
In the *buntus (and I would presume Debian), it is very simple:
apt-get install nvidia-current
Or you can use the newbie-friendly GUI to install it.
That said, I stopped buying NVidia cards about a year ago. The Open Source AMD driver is good enough for my needs (desktop, simple gaming, 3D modeling), and continues to improve rapidly. Now, I can add "respects my privacy".
Not that we should ban telemetry outright, but in the very least, we should know what data is being reported.
For entertainment value, here's the Nvidia driver download page from 2001, with the driver weighing in at 6Mb.
Compare with 15 years later, driver is now 300Mb....
Software bloat at it's finest.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
I am 100% certain that they would only be able to collect only crash data from EU citizen, as anything else, including usage or even something as simple as the percentage of pink pixel would break privacy laws and the right of correction.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
> apt-get install nvidia-current
This can break you if your card doesn't work with the current version, I'm pretty sure.
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to...
My point, however, is that it can look simple in any distro, actually be complex, and is entirely different from distro to distro. I've seen issues updating initramfs, and issues doing whatever kernel dance is required- and in the cases where it works, it isn't because of nvidia, it's because of good packaging for that distro by someone.
> Now, I can add "respects my privacy".
The Linux version still does, though it may simply be by accident or an unwillingness to find a way to spy in each and every distro. Still, the general feeling is that the open source AMD driver is miles better than the open source nvidia driver (a fact not the fault of the open source devs, who nvidia treats like mushrooms, keeping them in the dark and feeding them shit). Obviously, if a future version has telemetry nonsense somehow, I simply won't buy the card, but that's an issue for a future me.
Or will the driver not function without it?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
You don't have a right to the data on my machine, even if you wrote the software that generates it.
-- The End-User Manifesto
All this time I wondered what AMD could possibly do to convince me to try their video cards again. Now I know it was nVidia that had to do something all along.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
See subject: This is task scheduler driven in windows so cut out these entries there & poof/voila, it's gone:
NVidia Telemetry monitor
NVidia Crash and Telemetry reporter (2 of these are present)
(Each is GUID/SID marshalled (OLE type))
* Each time you update your drivers using the std. installer, this will PROBABLY have to be done (this is also the case w/ .exe's they used under %Program Files% in 64-bit & %Program Files (x86)% in 32-bit as well for nvtray.exe (if you don't like it, OR, NVBackend (can be disabled in tools like MSConfig start up area OR autoruns (far more comprehensive)).
(Personally on that LAST group, I go into the program files area & rename .exe files involved for 'geforce experience' IF you don't use it (I don't) along w/ DLL's those .exe files call functions from, but you have to be careful if you run STEAM games (bullshit imo, I like local diskbound games) there...)
Lastly - on updating a driver?
You don't REALLY need to use their std. installer - just extract it (goes beneath a NIVDIA folder & driver folder is what you use) & go to device manager & use it's properties page to update the driver (iirc, this doesn't install ALL NEW files, only strictly .sys driver related ones - feel free to correct me IF I am off here). This worked FINE for me going from build 375.63 to 375.70 current driver build.
Of course, you can also monitor what servers these things talk to w/ say, NirSofer's Network Latency View (or his other network tools) & block it by hostname (if it's done that way) OR ip address in firewalls too.
APK
P.S.=> In the end, this invasive spying is really, Really, REALLY getting "outta control" imo (well, not out of MY control or yours @ this point per the above)... apk
The thing about software like this, whether it be Microsoft, nVidia, or whoever, is that they have FULL access to your computer. Not just the current user, they have administrator access. They could, either by choice, accident or malice, send ANYTHING they want off of your computer. Tax forms, SSN's, bank account information, passwords, personal photos, etc.
That's fucked up.
A boilerplate shrinkwrap EULA does not count as asking for it. There is no meeting of the minds.
Telemetry is also there to help product owners to determine which features of the software are used the most. It allows product owners to have a better understanding how their software is used over all.
It's a frigging driver. First, "product owners" should stop insisting on bundling 5 different crap software packages when all I want to download is a driver (not easy to get individually).
According to TFA driver itself comes with telemetry too. But I am guessing that "driving of the hardware" is the most frequently used feature in that case. It's the only reason for getting that driver in the first place.
Basically just don't use 'GeForce Experience'. Honestly unless you're just one of these weird-os that can't live without social medial integration of your games then you can avoid all of this by not installing Experience. And honestly, why would any one?
Of course then this will only probably work until they make it mandatory, as these companies always try to do.
Give me a checkbox to disable it (even if it is enabled by default) and I'll not whinge. Make it a PITA to disable and I'm livid.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I have a GTX 980, so I immediately RTFA and looked for the task they referenced in the Task Scheduler. FWIW, I did not find the task referenced in the article or anything at all related to nvidia. I have the latest driver package from nvidia installed. YMMV.
Just confirmed this on my own system. This telemetry is all a part 'GeForce Experience'. People should just uninstall that crap anyway as there's really nothing of value in that product anyway.
If companies allowed me to install my own telemetry software on their systems to report back to me, it would be very helpful and give me a better understanding of how the company is run and how their products are developed. It would help consumers determine what features of the software the companies are putting their funding and effort towards the most.
So why do they make users consent to allow nVidia permission to collect "personally identifiable information" for the purposes of "deliver[ing] marketing communications" and collect "games and applications settings, performance, and usage data" although it is "not limited to" doing just this?
That ain't just for "understanding" that's for exploitation and profit from "personally identifiable" customer data.
This shit is spyware.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Yeah. It's getting kind of ridiculous.
Smithers: Do you know where I can buy some, uh... spyware?
Shopkeeper: SPYWARE?! Everything is spyware! Operating system made of spyware! Browser made of spyware! Look! All computer made of spyware!
Smithers: (picks up a graphics driver) I'd like to buy this.
Shopkeeper: Only Bitcoin! (whispers) American money is made of spyware.
You suddenly find £2,000 gone from your bank account and the bank blames you (as not in this Tesco case). You audit; you are up to date with all virus bashing software, etc, ... how else could your data have gone ? You then find that 'telemetry' is being sucked from your machine, Nvidia/Microsoft/... refuse to disclose what they have taken from your machine; they will not say how they protect what they have taken or who they share it with. Can you go after them ?
Until all competing products do the same thing. Then all you're left with is complaints. And make no mistake, if this is determined to be a success (or at least not a big disaster) then its almost certain the rest of the industry will follow suit, sooner or later.
nVidia is risking pissing us all off by this move while their competitors aren't, but AMD would be risking essentially nothing if they do the same thing in a couple months since there's not really any other options for people to move to. Intel's a very distant third place and not really attempting to compete at the cutting edge. Whoever is below Intel isn't even worth discussing at this point.
A low-competition market doesn't have to be an actual oligopoly to screw over their customers. Sometimes it just takes one producer to risk pulling the trigger on something only-kind-of-bad and everyone just follows along if the action shows overall benefit to the bottom line. This scenario might not get away with actions as bad as a true oligopoly but it can still fall well into the "not good" category.