They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.

Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.

You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.

This article specifically notes:

For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.

Other important quotes:

What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.

Two things back that up:

There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.

Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.

Here's the complaint filed to the court, the primary source for the case mentioned in the article. You can find mentions of GDID on page 30 of the document or 34 of the PDF.

I also made a PDF version!!

Within the heath we have the desert everyone is talking about. The Lieberos Desert, also known (also just “desert” or “LIttle Siberia”) is a sandy open area of about five square kilometres within the Lieberos Heath.

As late as 1992, many a commuter travelling between Lieberose and Peitz had to stop on the main road. Russian forces were holding their manoeuvres and the road went right through the tank firing range. At least it was closed before the shooting. The area had been a military training ground much earlier. The Nazis had big plans for the Lieberos Heath. When the Waffen-SS began to build up its personnel at the end of 1942, they needed accommodation and training sites. For this reason, the SS Kurmark training area was to be expanded. Forced labourers from all over Europe and concentration camp prisoners arrived in the region. Jamlitz, Groß Muckrow, Chossewitz Ullersdorf and 13 other villages were to be forcibly resettled.

The Lieberos Desert was also created during this time. The cause was a large forest fire that left 1700 hectares of bare land behind. Decades of military use, rolling tanks and transport convoys ensured that the open terrain was preserved. At a good five square kilometres in size, it is still the largest desert area in Germany today.

The grandstand on General Hill was built for the Waffenbrüderschaft manoeuvre in 1970, when 50,000 soldiers from the Warsaw Pact countries moved through the desert and heathland. Leonid Brezhnev, head of the Soviet Union’s party and state, and Erich Honecker watched the spectacle from there. The Russian forces left in 1992. But the traces of the military are far from gone. Thousands of hectares of the area are considered contaminated with munitions. This makes it difficult to extinguish forest fires. The paths leading through parts of the area are safe. In the Sukzessionspar you can wanter through nature and see how it is slowly returning.

At first, mosses and grass grow in the desert sand, small pines and birches advance further and further. The desert becomes steppe, later the pioneer forest becomes a mixed forest. And the animals come back. Spiders and insects, even the Italian grasshopper have already been sighted. Eagles circle overhead, wolf packs feel undisturbed. Inf fact this is where the wolf first returned to Germany, the first pups on German soild were born in the Lieberos Desert. Moose also come over for a visit from Poland.

PLAYBOY: Do you ever get tired of talking about your friendship with Matt?

AFFLECK: I understand the questions. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, they're friends, they're pals, they grew up together, isn't it great and cute? I get all kinds of questions, like, "So how's Matt?" or "What's Matt like?" And I don't know what sort of answers are expected.

Instead of saying Matt's fine and he's doing his thing, I'II be like, "Well, let me tell you about Matt. Matt can give a blow job in a way that's incredible, really special." Most of the time it's like Entertainment Tonight, and they can't air it. But then sometimes you think you're safe, but someone writes it down and it ends up being taken out of context in Out magazine.

PLAYBOY: Does Matt ever get pissed off about that?

AFFLECK: Matt gets it. We have a similar sense of humor, which I think is the main reason we're compatible as friends and in terms of writing. He always thinks it's funny. It's just a question of the rest of them.

PLAYBOY: Let's see if you've learned your lesson: What is Matt Damon really like?

AFFLECK: [Laughs] He gives a really great blow job.

The second reads

PLAYBOY: In his 1999 Playboy Interview, Affleck jokingly said of you, "He gives a really great blow job." Care to return the compliment?

DAMON: I do give great head. I definitely give a better blow job than Ben. I mean, I'm not lucky enough to be able to blow myself, but if I could, I'd never leave the house.