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HP is rolling out "HP Touchpoint Analytics Service" onto computers without user consent:
Lenovo has only just settled a massive $3.5 million fine for preinstalling adware on laptops without users' consent, and now it seems HP is getting in on the stealth installation action, too. According to numerous reports gathered by Computer World, the brand is deploying a telemetry client on customer computers without asking permission.
The software -- first identified on November 15 -- is called "HP Touchpoint Analytics Service" and appears to replace the self-managed HP Touchpoint Manager solution. According to the official productivity description, it features "the tools you need to ensure all your managed devices' security -- and brings you greater peace of mind". The problem is, it's installing itself without permission and is wreaking havoc on customers' systems.
Also at Computerworld and gHacks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @08:59PM
I could see doing this just to avoid the built in NIC, WiFi, and Bios. Intel and AMD are both compromised in the hardware straight out of the box. The only way to correct that is to buy a MB that has no NIC, and put a third party NIC cards in it, and install Coreboot. Haven't done this yet, but will probably be going down that road at some point in the future.
I have used livecd bastion host instead of a proper machine for Internet connections for years at this point. No HDD at all. When I need a download to my work host I sneakernet it, and I only ever connect to websites requiring login emmediately after startup.
100% of browsers are pwned IMHO. The recovery time from the inevitable break ins they cause, totally outweighs the benefits of having persistent storage on your browsing host at this time. YMMV. If I used what most people use, I'd be rebuilding my machine once a week.
It isn't that bad, it's way worse.