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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.

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Manjaro distribution is introducing a system for sending telemetry about the system (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by fireshell@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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The developers of the Manjaro Linux distribution, built on the basis of Arch Linux and aimed at beginners, announced the beginning of testing a new service MDD (Manjaro Data Donor), designed to collect statistics about the system and send it to the external server of the project. The author of the MDD intended to enable telemetry by default (opt-out), but the decision has not yet been approved and, judging by the objections of some developers and users, it is likely that telemetry will be offered as an option requiring prior consent of the user (a request to enable telemetry is proposed to be added to the greeting interface after the first download).

The report includes data such as host name, kernel version, desktop component versions, detailed information about hardware and drivers involved, screen size and resolution information, network device MAC addresses, disk serial numbers, disk partition data, information about the number of running processes and installed packages, versions of basic packages such as systemd, gcc, bash and PipeWire.

The sent data is stored on the project server in the ClickHouse database and visualized using the Grafana platform. The IP addresses of users are not stored, and the hash from the /etc/machine-id file is used as the system identifier.

Аccording to the code https://github.com/manjaro/mdd/blob/master/mdd.py#L40 sends everything.

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[–] 0x0@programming.dev 28 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

I get the usefulness of technical telemetry such as kernel version, RAM, disk space, processor type, etc... but NIC MAC? HDD serial? WTF?

[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Those are absolutely ways of covertly identifying your device while technically not counting as "personal information" under privacy laws.

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Serial numbers are hardly covert though... but yeah.

[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago

The point is that it's a loophole in privacy laws so they don't have to outright tell people that they collect personal or identifying information. So they can legally mislead people by claiming it's anonymous telemetry in hopes that users don't actually look into it or understand the implications.

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