Security News > 2020 > February > Sketchy behavior? Wacom tablet drivers phone home with names, times of every app opened on your computer

FYI: Wacom's official tablet drivers leak to the manufacturer the names of every application opened, and when, on the computers they are connected to.

If you want to disable this snooping, open your Wacom Desktop Center, find the slightly hidden More link, click on it, go to the privacy settings, and opt out of "Wacom's Experience Program." Note that you may have to opt out again after updating your driver installation: this data collection is enabled by default.

"Some of the events that Wacom were recording were arguably within their purview, such as 'driver started' and 'driver shutdown'," Heaton noted.

"I still don't want them to take this information because there's nothing in it for me, but their attempt to do so feels broadly justifiable. What requires more explanation is why Wacom think it's acceptable to record every time I open a new application, including the time, a string that presumably uniquely identifies me, and the application's name."

"The data is limited to the Wacom model, the pen functions used and the names of the software applications which are active when the device is used. And as you mentioned, users can of course opt out at any time without affecting functionality or performance of the Wacom products."

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/05/wacom_user_tracking/