Dell Apparently Pulls a Lenovo

Dell has apparently pulled a Lenovo.

Today Ars Technica reported that Dell PCs are being shipped with easily cloneable root certificates. Personally, I'm shocked. I had Dell figured to be a company that wouldn't stoop to such chicanery, but it appears I am mistaken.

What is the point of the deception? A contention is that Dell wants greater visibility into consumer browsing habits in order to generate more customized adware. Presumably, efforts to conceal what we do online are making an impact. But why would an OEM like Dell be willing to risk consumer loyalty in order to perpetuate adware?

Perhaps I am the naive one who believes there is any value in consumer loyalty. Maybe I can't comprehend the potential net worth involved. Maybe Dell is just desperate to get back some of the money they spent acquiring EMC, and as soon as possible. I don't know. What I do know is that I shared the Ars Technica article with a colleague, who alerted me a short time later that he had discovered the certificate on his own recently-purchased Dell — and eradicated it.

I have to applaud the possibility that as consumers we are taking even simple action against our own exploitation. It pleases me to know that SSL protocols work when properly implemented. And I, for one, am glad that vigilant end-users are sharing their discoveries with others on behalf of our digital preservation (thanks guys!). I make it seem like a crusade, don't I? Well, in enough ways, it is. Lenovo has gone out of its way to ensure that its ads are visible to us, even to the company's detriment. The penalty for the consumer's lack of reaction in the face of that kind of predatory action is the sacrifice of our tenuous and long-suffering privacy. We have to keep getting smarter about guarding our online activity, consumer loyalty be damned.