The original post: /r/linux by /u/VV029 on 2024-05-19 00:57:56.

So I noticed when using the spotify flatpak on Linux that it shows my TV under the devices connection tab. That tab only shows devices that you are either signed into, or are on the same network as you. In my case I’m not signed into spotify on my TV so clearly it’s showing up on there because it’s on my network. But with a VPN on it should not be able to know what my real network is.

Just to be extra sure, I downloaded Spotify on a VM on the same PC and the device did not show up on there since the VM is using NAT and is only able to see my VPN IP, so Spotify can’t snoop around to find my real network.

If you go on flatseal you can see that it gives the “share=network” permission in order for apps to be able to connect to the internet, problem is it seems this permission allows apps to access every network you are connected to if they want, so Spotify takes advantage of this by snooping through the networks and finding out what your real network is. Just wanted to let everyone know about this issue since I haven’t seen anyone talk about this.

If you’re gonna use Spotify and you want privacy, I highly recommend using it in a VM if you don’t want it to know what network you’re on, otherwise it will find out regardless of you using a VPN. At least it does on Linux, haven’t tested if it does the same on Windows.

I’m also not sure if this applies to every VPN, but this is with Proton.