Does NVIDIA Telemetry 'phone home' to Microsoft?

[catilley1092]

My Topic header is basically the question, have installed a GTX 1070 FTW + ACX 3.0 in my main PC, and the 1060 FTW +ACX 3.0 in it's 'little brother'. Ironically, the main runs the best Devil's canyon in the i7-4790K & the i5-4690K in the other, both OC'd.

As are the GPU's. When looking through some services that may impact Windows Startup, or those that I don't need, seen 2-3 NVIDIA entries having to do with Telemetry. While I left the ones that checks for updates enabled, I disabled all that were associated with Telemetry.

While I was going to initially ask on the GeForce forums, felt that a Moderator or other person under control of NVIDIA may step in & provide untruths. After all, during the Windows 10 Previews, it was seen on at least one forum where the NVIDIA GPU was uploading data to Microsoft. While not totally possible, I prefer to have what control I have over privacy & therefore never use the Express Install of Windows 10 (or 8.1), and choose what I don't want to share.

Something else to consider, Microsoft paid a huge sum to join the Linux Foundation, and months before that, any time that the GPU drivers are updated, a new version of 'node.js' (a Linux Foundation software) is also installed, although not the latest. If one has Secunia PSI installed, that'll be shown fast, so I download the latest before the driver install. Like Java (if installed) & Flash Player, node.js must also be kept up to date, am not sure of the details, some type of plugin.

Download | Node.js

System specs are below, main rig first.

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/qulw0AD7PJNY8rCHonqm34B

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/lcoYyU4q3Vuhmy1MYrH6nRG

I'm also fairly certain that my other build (AMD), assembled with a lot of reused hardware, although the MB & CPU were new, also has the node.js component, a 2GB GeForce GTX 960 that's now in it's 4th home inside of two years.

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/v0hM7gCASDHBhbtovErE1J0

Am simply wanting to know where this data is going, CCleaner shows these reports before deletion that can't be opened, or don't have a tool to open the files with. If it's NVIDIA simply wanting to improve their products, I can live with that, it's the 3rd parties I'm concerned over. Microsoft didn't purchase a Platinum membership to the Linux Foundation for the sake of it, and since 'node.js' is their software, there's a connection that could be made.

Cat

 

[Neemobeer]

I find it highly unlikely Nvidia is collecting data for Microsoft nor would Nvidia moderators lie to you about data they collect. I'd wager it's bug dumps and other statistics. If you wanted to know for sure you'd need to decrypt the https traffic with a program like fiddler.

Microsoft joining the Linux Foundation has been primarily due to them submitting code for Hypervisor/ Linux support and to support Linux in their Azure cloud as well as open sourcing .Net and powershell to have them work on Linux as well.

There is no conspiracy from Microsoft or Nvidia.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Also, one thing I noticed in the SPECCY report of the first system you linked to; the one with the ASUSZ97PRO Mobo; is that you have syncing turned on for both Microsoft OneDrive as well as GoogleDrive. I have this set up on my main Desktop as well. However, in terms of privacy about what NVIDIA is sending back to Microsoft, they are already getting quite a bit of network traffic from that system at least because you have enabled OneDrive on that system! If you are concerned about the privacy of what NVIDIA is sending to Microsoft, you should also be concerned about what information is being sent to Microsoft as well. And if you have your WUDO turned On as well as Windows Updates enabled; even more information is being sent to Microsoft since you haven't specifically disabled those functions (perhaps not, as you mentioned that you use Custom Install on W10, so maybe they are off). Microsoft will send information on any hardware that your Mobo BIOS contains if you have opted to turn any of these services on, or even 1 of them. I've not heard anything about NVIDIA collecting information and then sharing it on the fly directly with Microsoft as Neemo mentions; but that doesn't mean it's not happening.
I think that NVIDIA wants to keep the info that it gets from it's users of their GPU cards private, and if anything they might SELL that info to Microsoft, as of course they can afford to buy it. I might believe that NVIDIA would be more interested in the stats collected by the above methods of BIOS hardware gathering information techniques that Microsoft has developed and would be interested in making a deal with Microsoft to get THAT data as they have much more info on your hardware than NVIDIA would have. At least for Marketing purposes. If Microsoft knows exactly which model Mobos are being used with NVIDIA GPU cards by model number, that would be of more value to NVIDIA to market that info and target users of NVIDIA shopping sites with popup ads for those particular GPU cards when users are looking at various Mobo makes/models. That's just a guess though.
That first PC is certainly sending lots of stuff to BOTH M$ and NVIDIA translating your traffic IPs on whois.com. I think making sure that all the Microsoft traffic is turned off would be a good place to start, and then re-run your SPECCY report and lookup all those IP's that have packets being sent to Microsoft from ONLY the NVIDIA apps. (you have lots of traffic going to Microsoft from your svchost processes; and that's hard to disable unless you have W10 Pro, which apparently you have on the 1st machine).


Best,
<<<BBJ>>>

 

[Neemobeer]

In order to receive Windows updates you have to at least have 'Basic' telemetry on or 'Security' if you're using an Enterprise edition.

 

[stueycaster]

I just can't help but think the information that our computers send home is all pretty benign. I once read an article by the "Howto Geek" about whether we need to worry about being watched and he said we don't need to worry because we are all boring because we aren't terrorists or anything like that. If someone is doing something extremely illegal or something, yeah. But we casual computer users really have nothing to worry about.

 

[catilley1092]

Thanks for the responses, will re-enable NVIDIA Telemetry, hopefully the collected data will be to provide better products in the future. On that end, I wouldn't mind the ads (from them), as they're always shipping out more powerful than ever GPU's by the year, and I like to be able to upgrade no longer than every 2-3 years. Hopefully there'll soon be a next level up in the memory type (GDDR6 or 7), as GDDR5 has been stretched to near it's max.

The latest GTX 1080's has 11GB of GDDR5X RAM, seems that NVIDIA has took Moore's Law from Intel (when they could no longer keep up) & ran away with it, the evidence speaks for itself.

Wouldn't surprise me to see in my lifetime a 20GB model, maybe in the next 5 years, going by recent upgrade history, my GTX 1070 has 8GB, rising by an average of 2GB every year would reach that mark in that span.

However, they weren't as successful in the motherboard market, unless one considers that XP/W2K can be installed to these (former) business models w/out slipstreaming of SATA drivers, maybe the only positive at the time. Unfortunately, these MB's didn't include AHCI support, so not an ideal choice for a SSD install, and NVIDIA got out of that market in or around 2010 altogether (sooner for manufacturing), shame that they didn't ship an AHCI BIOS for these.

I suppose if Microsoft wanted, they have other avenues for gathering data, as both of my Windows 10 Pro computers & others not listed, all except one, am singing into the Microsoft Account when entering my PIN to logon. Yes, I use OneDrive, am glad to have found the article days before the storage was reduced, to 'grandfather' myself in, so that I have 30GB of online space, and another 15GB via Google Drive. These are set to sync at boot to all computers, although don't have Google Drive installed on all. I particularly like the Camera Roll storage, as when I leave, will have two webcams going to that if anyone comes into my PC room, at a minimum, will know who has been in there, and once caught someone stealing a USB Flash drive.

Will have to check on the networking issue that BIGBEARJEDI raised, all of my Windows 10 installs are Pro, and even the few with 7 are Pro or Ultimate. I used a script found on a site to disable much (although not all) of the Telemetry data, as W10 didn't play well on those machines, and I was highly ticked to find one that I had forgotten to shut down & when seen it on, was ready setup W10.

Fortunately, had a recent backup image & reverted w/out issue. The SSD needed a good secure erase anyway.

Glad to hear that NVIDIA isn't acting on behalf of a 3rd party to share personal data & thanks for addressing my concerns.

Cat

 

[kemical]

I think quite a bit of the Nvidia telemetry is to do with their hand held device, Shield is it? I'm not sure what it get's up to when there's no Shield installed but there we go. I think it's a moot point anyway especially if one owns a smartphone as that particular horse has already bolted..

 

[catilley1092]

BIGBEARJEDI did make some interesting points, obviously knowing what to look for, knows more about my system than I & has never physically seen it.

Yes, I use OneDrive & will continue to, opted in in the last days to keep my 15GB of space, plus 15GB Camera Roll, and have Google Drive (as well as Dropbox) on some systems. While Skype is installed, is disabled from starting with PC, because the last thing I want on my computer(s) are distractions every few minutes from my contacts.

Have re-enabled NVIDIA Telemetry on all three systems that has it, just as BIGBEARJEDI pointed out, if Microsoft wants to know me, the door is open by default. Although when installing the Creator's Update, did deselect the box about typing data, while there was some warning about 'only basic information would be sent to Microsoft', anyone should beware of that if we're using their Services, they have more than enough data on us.

The good news is that for well over 99.5% of Windows users, other than being fed ads (if an adblocker is not installed), they could care less about us 'little guys', unless subpoenaed by law enforcement to hand over data. Which by law (as it applies to one's locality), one may have no control over & will never know anything until the cops are knocking at the door.

By then, if one doesn't have a reinforced steel door & a one or two click setup to zap all drives (would have to be SSD's of certain brands), they're going to get in before one has the chance to destroy data. Plus by that time, they'll have their ducks in a row to begin with, the data stored on one's local computer will only serve to tie the evidence to a particular computer & user on it.

So this is one of those times, if we're not doing anything illegal, we're going to be passed over for those who are. Think about it, considering all of the Windows users (& not just W10 ones, Telemetry began long before then, maybe with Vista, for sure with W7), if Microsoft could hand sift though all of our activities, they'd be the largest employer Worldwide, placing Wally World into a deep #2 position.

Note that other than for customer service, I don't agree with any other aspects of Telemetry. Microsoft would, in a post 9/11 era, become the first large corporation to sign the PRISM act, which W10 fulfills & continues to. I don't agree with the collection of private data, unless due to process of law (one may be visiting illegal sites & performing transactions), otherwise have no choice other than accept the fact that it's not going to get better. Unlike the EU, North American consumers doesn't have the backbone to begin a movement to protect our rights when using Windows, while at the same time, sometimes violently protesting over issues that has zero possibility of being changed.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my concerns.

Cat