More from the article ...

... Microsoft describes the GDID in a published complaint (via Windows Latest) as "a persistent, device-level identifier designed to uniquely identify an installation of a Windows operating system on a device, either a physical device (e.g., a mobile phone or laptop) or virtual machine, across certain Microsoft services and scenarios."

So when you first set up Windows, or register a new Windows device, Microsoft ties that installation's GDID to you. Anything that happens on that system can then be traced back to you, the individual. ...

So ... Flock cameras, but for all you do on your PC?

More from the article ...

... Windows Latest discovered that this is generated at the server side, but is also stored locally. It can be found in the Windows registry under:

"HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\ExtendedProperties"

Although this number remains when you update Windows, it is updated if you reinstall Windows, assigning you a new GDID"though the original one may remain recorded as well. ...

@#4

I'm not just learning this now. But thanks for a reason for me to explain ...

I have always thought that Windows was merely a data slurping process for Microsoft. (there's a reason why I'm looking seriously at Linux Mint, et al ... But I digress)

What I did want to highlight in this thread was that my suspicions in that area have now been presented in more widely-read media.