From nobody Tue Nov 22 21:26:51 2022 X-Original-To: questions@mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4NGy503J9fz4hf0P for ; Tue, 22 Nov 2022 21:27:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from merlyn@geeks.org) Received: from mail.geeks.org (jacobs.geeks.org [204.153.247.1]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4NGy4z0Yg0z49WR for ; Tue, 22 Nov 2022 21:26:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from merlyn@geeks.org) Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=none; spf=pass (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of merlyn@geeks.org designates 204.153.247.1 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=merlyn@geeks.org; dmarc=none Received: from mail.geeks.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by after-clamsmtpd.geeks.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EF068D129 for ; Tue, 22 Nov 2022 15:26:51 -0600 (CST) Received: by mail.geeks.org (Postfix, from userid 1003) id D8A9AD127; Tue, 22 Nov 2022 15:26:51 -0600 (CST) Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2022 15:26:51 -0600 From: Doug McIntyre To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What exactly is hostid used for? Message-ID: References: <1931267.2YEvzyG8uJ@ravel> List-Id: User questions List-Archive: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-questions List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV using ClamSMTP X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-2.18 / 15.00]; SUBJECT_ENDS_QUESTION(1.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-1.00)[-1.000]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-1.00)[-1.000]; NEURAL_HAM_SHORT(-0.88)[-0.882]; R_SPF_ALLOW(-0.20)[+ptr]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; ASN(0.00)[asn:7753, ipnet:204.153.244.0/22, country:US]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[geeks.org]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; MLMMJ_DEST(0.00)[questions@freebsd.org]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; RCVD_COUNT_THREE(0.00)[3]; RCVD_TLS_LAST(0.00)[]; RCPT_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_ALL(0.00)[]; TO_DN_NONE(0.00)[]; PREVIOUSLY_DELIVERED(0.00)[questions@freebsd.org]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[] X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4NGy4z0Yg0z49WR X-Spamd-Bar: -- X-ThisMailContainsUnwantedMimeParts: N On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 01:51:39AM -0500, grarpamp wrote: > > But frankly, why would you ever bother with disabling it? > > Because "apps (often aka anti-privacy tools)" and nic's and attacks > can read your unique and paste it into the internet, and do whatever > else with it. Would not be surprising if javascript browsers are reading > such things. Nor would some environments want it embedded in say > offsite backups of zpools, etc. I think the last time I had bought any commercial software for FreeBSD, it was OSS drivers about 20 years ago. Not sure there's been any since. I doubt the browser vendors make a path for hostid to show through, when there are a million other things that browser fingerprinting can capture and use. Ie. are you unique enough? https://www.amiunique.org/ There's so much other data to be used that is pushed through the browser allowing fingerprinting.