578
submitted 8 months ago by Umbrella8335@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 8 months ago

Wait wait, have we been lied to.. Does linux actually collect telemetry?

[-] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 27 points 8 months ago

Too lazy to click, but it's probably browser data. By default pretty much all browsers report OS info while browsing.

The intent is to ensure compatibility with the sites, and it's also used to push relevant info to the front, e.g., going to the "download" page and having the first download link be a .deb instead of .exe.

It's unfortunately also used as part of the data collected for browser "fingerprinting" so it can be a touchy subject and may get spoofed by some users, leading to erroneous data, but in aggregate it can be used to give a general sense of OS and browser market share for studies like this.

[-] muhyb@programming.dev 16 points 8 months ago

They detect this from browsers, it's not really accurate. For example, if you're using LibreWolf, they'll detect you as Windows 10.

[-] laurelraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 8 months ago

Which just means the real number is likely higher since Windows browsers are almost certainly not getting counted as Linux

[-] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 6 points 8 months ago

Probably not. The majority of users use chrome or whatever their os comes with. There are edge cases but it would be the minority that think about privacy and such.

I'm to lazy to worry about tracking so I install ublock, enable do not track in the settings of Firefox, and call it a day.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 months ago

It is probably more likely that a Linux users is detected incorrectly, but the percentage of users doing something to cause this is almost certainly small enough to ignore.

[-] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 8 months ago

Thats what i thought, you can easily modify useragents

[-] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml 10 points 8 months ago

It's browser data, not telemetry.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 9 points 8 months ago
[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 0 points 8 months ago

Good guy Ubuntu puts us on the radar.

[-] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

If you install edge!

this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
578 points (96.3% liked)

Linux

48021 readers
985 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS