Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID

Re:Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID by close04 on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @09:04AM (#48817204)

> Unless anonymization is provided by your browser, there is nothing you can do to prevent such identification technology

The OS could treat certain apps as untrusted and spoof or limit the access to these unique identifiers.

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Re:Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID by ygjb on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @11:09AM (#48818918)

That puts the OS in the position of attempting to profile or determine if an application is accessing OS, hardware, and user details to build a fingerprint, vs using those capabilities to do something the user intends, which puts the OS developer into a performance sucking, soul sucking arms race against big and little brother surveillance/advertising platforms. I absolutely support the intention, just know that it's a brutal battle :(

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Re:Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID by close04 on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @01:27PM (#48820902)

The OS already does this for a living. A set of identifiers requested sporadically by an app can’t be what breaks its back. Isn’t iOS already doing something similar?

[ Parent | on HN ]