Does Visio use variant 3 UUIDs as GUIDs?

Started by Visisthebest, December 30, 2020, 11:50:13 AM

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Visisthebest

In this post:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/246930/is-there-any-difference-between-a-guid-and-a-uuid#:~:text=The%20term%20GUID%20usually%20refers,Unique%20Identifier%20(UUID)%20standard.&text=RFC%204122%20itself%20states%20that,an%20alternative%20name%20for%20UUID%E2%80%A6

I find this information:
"Microsoft COM has GUIDs which are variant 3 UUIDs"

Does Visio 2016/2019 use the variant 3 UUIDs?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier#Versions_3_and_5_(namespace_name-based)

I am asking because older versions of UUIDs (GUIDs) are probably in violation of European privacy law.

Do anyone know? (or where to find confirmation from Microsoft on this)
Visio 2021 Professional

Paul Herber

I've just checked a Visio GUID that was generated back in 2008 with Visio 2007 Pro and I've just checked it at:
https://www.freecodeformat.com/validate-uuid-guid.php
the GUID I checked was:
C9B1A6CB-C9BB-4F90-B51D-909057E3783B
and it says it is GUID 4.
Electronic and Electrical engineering, business and software stencils for Visio -

https://www.paulherber.co.uk/

Visisthebest

Very good to know it is 'purely' random then, will check in Visio 2019 expect it tb the same. Thank you Paul!
Visio 2021 Professional

Nikolay

#3
QuoteI am asking because older versions of UUIDs (GUIDs) are probably in violation of European privacy law.

In addition to GUID privacy considerations, I've heard there is also a problem of "green" GUIDs.
Since the number of GUIDs is a limited resource, you could consider recycling them.
Try sending an email to European Commission on Green Energy and other green stuff, containing the list of GUIDs which are not in use anymore  :)

More seriously, as far as I know, it is not that "version 4" is any newer or better than "version 3", it is just how the GUIDs are generated (algorithm marker). Actually, "4" is "pure random number" and "3" is not.
I am also not aware of any privacy regulations that apply to GUIDs (as soon as they are actually GUIDs)? But maybe I am missing something?

wapperdude

Adding to Paul's reply, I concur that it's version 4.  For example, here GUID for pages in V2019 drawing:
Page info in document: Drawing1
1  Page-1 0 {E73882DC-759F-4E51-85E7-F268E8AF660B}
2  Page-2 4 {42B90B00-155D-4F5F-944A-A310379B5A72}
3  Page-3 5 {4346CE8F-FF85-4047-BB90-A6EF0C1600A9}
4  Page-4 6 {B0F02E79-4044-4401-9DA2-4DE448F36207}
5  Page-5 7 {9FB11B16-939B-4301-88A5-0B158D552D2A}
Visio 2019 Pro

Visisthebest

Thank you Nikolay and Wapperdude!

Version 1 and 2 of UUID's (GUIDs) contain the MAC address of the network card of the computer the GUID was generated on. Older versions of Microsoft Office did use these GUIDs, which probably is a privacy violation as documents can be traced back to an individual's computer.

I am sure many big companies will not accept software that generates codes in documents with MAC addresses in them (at least not without explicitly disclosing this to the user and providing an opt-out), because European privacy violation (the feared GDPR regulations) can lead to big fines for big companies.

Fortunately with version 4 UUIDs this is not an issue for Visio.
Visio 2021 Professional