cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1246200/pdf-a-hacker-s-arrest-reveals-microsoft-can-track-users-ip-history-even-with-vpn-full-we
You can read about it yourself here on page 12 (or page 8 of affidavit), then page 33 and down (page 29 of affidavit)
First one to notice this: Security researcher, VX-Underground.
Absolute can remotely track (and can even remotely brick) the motherboard regardless of what you’re running on it. Even security-focused OSes like Tails and Qubes would be affected, because the tracking is running below the OS level.
And good luck running anything on a bricked motherboard. The motherboard will literally refuse to boot anything. You can’t even get to a BIOS menu to flash something new onto it. At that point, if you were determined to keep using the device, you’d be attaching probes to motherboard leads like a security researcher to try and reset individual chips.