A Challenge to the Naysayers

[user101]

Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

Google knows all about you & thanks you for using their spyware.

[lars_the_bear]

It's not the individual snippets of information that are the problem. It's the large-scale aggregation and correlation of information from different sources. Certain business have gotten very good at this, and it's surprising how much real-life, individual information can be assembled with reasonable accuracy, using statistical processes.

I don't think posting system information anonymously on a web forum is a huge risk -- if we can even identify what the 'risk' might amount to. Nevertheless, my policy is to post as little information about myself or my hardware as is practicable. I don't know who runs this site, what information it shares, or how secure it is. The same applies to almost every on-line resource I use. So I prefer caution. Other people, no doubt, will assess the risk/reward balance differently.

BR, Lars.

[DukeComposed]

I don't know who runs this site, what information it shares, or how secure it is. The same applies to almost every on-line resource I use. So I prefer caution.

Translation: "I don't trust the people on this website, but I am happy to expect free help from them." It's an easy enough problem to fix: don't ask for tech support and we won't ask for a QSI.

[Eadwine Rose]

Can we keep it on topic please, don't drag the kitchen sink into the discussion.

[artytux]

Please point out any personal identifiers that could tie this machine to me or reveal my actual identity or location.

Taking privacy and control paranoia overboard, IF anyone is so worried about their personal information, and don't want to use the QSI, maybe just maybe they should spend some quiet time reading their QSI.

When Optus here in Oz got hacked myself and thousands yep thousands of now ex Optus customers had to get re-issued drivers licence , new phone numbers , knowing all our details , address email and snail also included bank details/cards what a mess then to add insult all the details went up for sale online.

Why or how actually could MX Linux harvest any private details without some-one stumbling across that sort of identifier.

Open source operating systems and software don't get away with intrusions like that for long (just ask one distro about phone home about user activities)

[lars_the_bear]

I don't know who runs this site, what information it shares, or how secure it is. The same applies to almost every on-line resource I use. So I prefer caution.

Translation: "I don't trust the people on this website, but I am happy to expect free help from them." It's an easy enough problem to fix: don't ask for tech support and we won't ask for a QSI.

This forum is, so far as I know, completely open to the public, everywhere in the world. There's an essentially unlimited number of untrustworthy people out there. I (probably) don't know you, you probably don't know me. No clear grounds for trust are apparent to me.

But, frankly, that's not what I'm talking about. I'd be more worried about the person or organization that provides the hosting, because that organization will be able to connect my comments to my IP number, which massively increases the identifiability. I haven't yet got paranoid enough to use a VPN all the time, but I'm certainly considering it.

There have been some really egregious leakages of personal information from web-based services that I thought could be trusted. The worst I know of is a UK gun trading website, that leaked the names and addresses of over a hundred thousand people who own firearms. What the criminal fraternity made of that, hardly bears thinking about. Another forum I used a lot turned out to be populated mostly by far-right conspiracy theorists. That these people know anything about me, anything at all is, frankly, terrifying. These incidents certainly changed the way I thought about on-line privacy.

If you don't want to help, on the basis that I'm a bit uncomfortable about putting my trust in a complete stranger on the Internet, that's fine. I won't hold it against you.

Having said all that, I suspect that not wanting to share trivial system information is a bit close to tinfoil hat territory. It probably wouldn't worry me at all, had I not had disturbing experiences in the past.

BR, Lars

[j2mcgreg]

@lars_the_bear wrote:

I don't think posting system information anonymously on a web forum is a huge risk -- if we can even identify what the 'risk' might amount to. Nevertheless, my policy is to post as little information about myself or my hardware as is practicable. I don't know who runs this site, what information it shares, or how secure it is. The same applies to almost every on-line resource I use. So I prefer caution. Other people, no doubt, will assess the risk/reward balance differently.

Concerning the QSI request which is the subject of this topic, consider this scenario. Your car is acting up and you are searching for a mechanic to fix it. However, the only information you are willing to volunteer is that it has a gasoline engine. How successful do you think that your search is going to be? How much help, if any, will you glean? We only care about the malfunctioning machine and similar to the mechanic, we only ask for the bare minimum information necessary to solve the problem

[j2mcgreg]

Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

Google knows all about you & thanks you for using their spyware.

You are assuming that I have a choice. There are government websites that I have to access on a regular basis that only work consistently with Chrome or Edge. Firefox and its clones are very hit and miss. Of the two that do work, I consider Chrome to be the lesser evil by a long chalk.

[siamhie]

I will be your huckleberry

Your computer is hot!

Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 53.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 46.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0 fan-2: 0

I suspect you are pacificist LOL

mine is

Code: Select all

inxi -s
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 30.6 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 28.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A

I like the Winter days.

Code: Select all

inxi -Ss
System:
  Host: flux23 Kernel: 6.6.62-x64v3-xanmod1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Fluxbox v: 1.3.7 Distro: MX-23.4_fluxbox_x64 Libretto May 19
    2024
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 27.6 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 46.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 731

[j2mcgreg]

I will be your huckleberry

Your computer is hot!

Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 53.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 46.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0 fan-2: 0

I suspect you are pacificist LOL

mine is

Code: Select all

inxi -s
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 30.6 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 28.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A

You also have to consider the uptime. At 4 hours and twenty-one minutes use on a laptop, 53.8 C is nothing to worry about. I would be concerned if that was the starting idle temperature.