If you think Lenovo is done spying on you via your Windows computer without explicitly informing you about what’s going one, especially after the major Superfish spying scandal from mid-February, then you’re wrong.
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Lenovo collects usage data on all ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkStation computers, new research from Computer World reveals, even though it was previously believed that the “Think” lines of Lenovo computers had not fallen prey to Lenovo’s spying practices, which were though to only target consumer machines.
While the Superfish scandal involved spy and tracking software that could have jeopardized user security, which Lenovo did acknowledge, the company said the software doesn’t come on Think-branded PCs. However, that’s not the case, and these laptops have applications that are meant to collect user data and send it to Lenovo servers.
Some of this data could even be shared with third parties.
Processes like “Lenovo Customer Feedback Program 64” have been discovered running daily on Lenovo machines, and further digging revealed other files that include the name of an online marketing and web analytics firm. According to Computer World, Lenovo does mention in its license agreement that it might collect data about you, saying that you can disable it if you want to, without specifying how you should do it.
Furthermore, a Lenovo support document says the company does indeed collect data on all ThinkCentre, ThinkStation and ThinkPad computers, and it can upload “non-personal and non-identifying information about Lenovo software application usage” to 112.2o7.net.
Lenovo also says in documentation that it collects data for its apps, and that it’s not personally identifiable information, But that doesn’t make things any better for the average user, who might inadvertently discover that Lenovo is still spying on him or her.
