• TeddE@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Yup!

    Motherboard, CPU, GPU models and serial numbers. Ram size and speed. Those were used during Windows activation as old as windows 95. But likely yes, a full list of every component connected.

    Your Android phone collects every WiFi network it has ever seen and sends it to Google, so we should assume Microsoft does the same (Android can locate you without GPS by using your neighbors’ WiFi signals as position identifiers, and can triangulate you to a few feet using the relative networks’ signal strengths)

    • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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      7 hours ago

      Android phone collects every WiFi network it has ever seen and sends it to Google

      Possibly, but how often do you use WiFi on a phone?

      • TeddE@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Please note: I didn’t say you had to connect to these networks. This happens as a background process unless you do a ritual to shut off location services and actively work to keep it off. Most people do not know/care to do this. And even if it’s off in settings, some apps have the permission to temporarily override this (and will ask you once to grant it such permission and then have that permission for the lifetime of the app). And regardless of which app overrides said setting, Google gets a copy of whatever the background scan finds (for all Android phones that have the Play store installed, which is most of them).

      • AppleMango@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Possibly, but how often do you use WiFi on a phone?

        Basically whenever I’m at home or a relative’s house?