Ubuntu Disables Spectre/Meltdown Protections

Ubuntu and Intel have agreed to disable Spectre mitigations in the Intel GPU Compute Runtime, citing kernel-based mitigations and a desire to avoid a substantial performance penalty; Canonical reports about a 20% performance improvement as a result. The change is framed as a mitigation-policy decision rather than an acknowledgement of active exploitation, and the author argues Spectre attacks are difficult to weaponize compared with other attack vectors.