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A comment on Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA.

Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by guelo on Monday November 23, 2015 @01:12PM (#10616100)
On Android I only buy and recommend Nexus devices because of crapware, privacy and security concerns. It might be a good time for Microsoft users to switch to that same strategy and only buy Microsoft devices, since the introduction of Microsoft's own laptop makes it possible. It's also pretty much the Apple model.
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by yohui on Monday November 23, 2015 @02:00PM (#10616463)
All computers sold via the Microsoft Store are "Signature Edition" devices, sort of like the old "Google Play Edition" program: https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/Signatu...

For example, the XPS 15: https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Dell-XP...

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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by okuli on Monday November 23, 2015 @01:49PM (#10616388)
Microsoft sells laptops from different manufacturers with Signature Edition. Those laptops don't have any junk.
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by criddell on Monday November 23, 2015 @04:44PM (#10617534)
> Those laptops don't have any junk

I bought a Signature Edition Thinkpad Yoga S1 from Microsoft and it didn't have any junk on it, except in the registry. I think all they do is open the machine, uninstall all the non-Microsoft stuff, then ship the machine. A clean install wouldn't have registry keys for Evernote (for example).

I think I would only buy a Microsoft Surface machine at this point. The hardware is very good and they aren't junked up.

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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by tetraodonpuffer on Monday November 23, 2015 @02:07PM (#10616511)
do they remain junk-free when you install manufacturer software updates? Was wondering if manufacturers are mandated to keep the signature laptops clean or if the first time you install your "control center / driver center" update it will automatically pull in things you'd rather not
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by Raed667 on Monday November 23, 2015 @05:16PM (#10617733)
can you explain to me how an i5-6300HQ/8GB memory/256GB SSD worth 1'700$ ?

For that price I'd buy a gamer laptop and just do a clean install.

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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by spectralblu on Monday November 23, 2015 @05:13PM (#10617716)
An interesting thing I realized on Android while doing some development was that if you install a custom root cert, Android actually persists a notification that says something along the lines of "other people may be able to intercept your communication".

Noticed this while I was installing the MITM cert for CharlesProxy.

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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by Nutomic on Monday November 23, 2015 @06:24PM (#10618084)
Which is really annoying if you actually want to import a different CA (like CAcert.org).
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by sikto on Monday November 23, 2015 @01:49PM (#10616384)
Buying devices only from Google or Microsoft is a little better as it might remove one layer of involuntary data sharing but it would still be better wiping off Android and replacing it with something else that is more privacy oriented...
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by Phlarp on Monday November 23, 2015 @02:29PM (#10616676)
Are there any "somethings" that are more privacy oriented and can be flashed onto existing android hardware without destroying all functionality due to missing / poor drivers?
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by superuser2 on Monday November 23, 2015 @05:05PM (#10617672)
Why? Surface Book costs more than a Macbook. Windows laptops sell because they're cheap.
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by cm2187 on Monday November 23, 2015 @02:12PM (#10616546)
I am not sure that buying an Android phone is helping much from a privacy point of view. There is a reason Android is free...
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Re:Dell shipping laptop with rogue self-signed root CA by scholia on Monday November 23, 2015 @05:35PM (#10617845)
Probably not many people have read (for example) Torproject ...

Mission Impossible: Hardening Android for Security and Privacy

https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardenin...

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