HP is Going to Monitor PC Usage With a "Carfax for PCs"
An Anonymous Coward writes:
The United Nations' Global E-waste Monitor estimates that the world generates over 60 million tonnes of e-waste annually. Furthermore, this number is rising five times as fast as e-waste recycling. Much of this waste comes from prematurely discarded electronic devices.
Many enterprises follow a standard three-year replacement cycle, assuming older computers are inefficient. However, many of these devices are still functional and could perform well with minor upgrades or maintenance. The issue is, no one knows what the weak points are for a particular machine, or what the needed maintenance is, and the diagnostics would be too costly and time-consuming. It's easier to just buy brand new laptops.
When buying a used car, dealerships and individual buyers can access each car's particular CarFax report, detailing the vehicle's usage and maintenance history. Armed with this information, dealerships can perform the necessary fixes or upgrades before reselling the car. And individuals can decide whether to trust that vehicle's performance. We at HP realized that, to prevent unnecessary e-waste, we need to collect and make available usage and maintenance data for each laptop, like a CarFax for used PCs.
There is a particular challenge to collecting usage data for a PC, however. We need to make sure to protect the user's privacy and security. So, we set out to design a data-collection protocol for PCs that manages to remain secure.
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