Microsoft creates its own movie moment with fancy privacy manifesto Microsoft has published what can only be described as a privacy manifesto. The unusual online screed comes complete with interactive graphics, including a recording of the FISA court's voicemail, and appears geared at pitching Microsoft as the protector of people's global data. Written by president and chief legal officer …
In one hand you've got Windows 10 & all it's privacy raping defaults that the bulk of the private citizens using the OS will never know about nor how to deactivate, then on the other hand you try to tell us how you respect our privacy & are standing up for the rights of your users.
Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
No, he's got a pretty goddamned good idea. Windows 10 violates my privacy against my will. So, for that matter, does Office (insttable) Office 365, Azure and pretty much everything else Microsoft ship.
More to the point - and this is really the only point that actually matters - none of us can trust Microsoft.
If there is a setting in Windows that says it won't ship my info anywhere, how do I know Microsoft won't turn it back on with a patch? Why, with all of my privacy settings set to "fuck off, Microsoft", does Windows still send data to the mothership? Wireshark doesn't lie, nor do my packet sniffers at the router.
How can I trust, if I use some Microsoft online service, that my privacy is sacrosanct? What if I'm a French journalist? Will Microsoft still feel perfectly blase about prying open my e-mail to deal with internal dissidents?
And how many times, exactly, do I need to tell Windows 7 that I don't fucking want Windows 10 before new patches stop re-enabling the download, pre-downloading it against my will and worse?
Microsoft has already cost me well over $100 in bandwidth charges by downloading stuff against my will through Windows update while using a MiFi at a conference. How can I possibly trust them with my privacy?
Microsoft cannot be trusted. And that makes every forced interaction with them a potential violation of our privacy against our will. They've done it before. They will do it again. They cannot be trusted.
Its a good point, Google is a master at whoring your from advertiser to advertiser.
MS used to offer a paid for OS that respected your privacy, but from XP's "product activation" through Vista's intrusive and bloated DRM aspects, and then finally to Win10's forced updates, weasel-worded upgrade pushes and and default-on telemetry, you have to ask: "Why pay for this shit?"
A little harsh. I only mentioned it because so many of the "Windows 10 rapes my privacy" crowd are also enthusiastic recommenders of Android. You must have noticed this yourself.
I think what is necessary in Win10 is some clear explanation from Microsoft. What data is collected? In what form is it collected? Is it anonymized? If so, how? Is it stored? Is it stored in encrypted format? What do potential advertisers get to see if any? How long is data stored for? Exactly what's it used for?
The keystrokes thing, for example. Suppose they're using it to build a better Autocarrot and chucking away all personal details etc. Is that evil? Not especially, since you actually can opt out of that. On a system with all options set to "don't tell MS anything" some data still goes to MS and that's concerning because I can't, despite trying for days off and on, figure out exactly what it is. So transparency about that is an essential requirement.
In terms of packets though, it's a fuckload less than Android spews at Google or a Chrome session phones home with.
So the original point still stands.
I'm with the others.. Win10 and ramming it down the user's throats? Not telling anyone "transparently" what the updates actually do? Should I add all the telemetry that, of course <cough>, is only there to improve the experience? And we won't get into what is being done with all this data being collected from the users.
Keep talking, Brad. And you might need a bigger shovel because I expect a lot crap to be shoveled out of Redmond.
And my wife wonders why I'm cynical about certain things...
I'm prepared to accept the concept of Microsoft being a staunch defender of my data from all comers, but that isn't good enough.
The best protection for my data and privacy is not to let Microsoft have it at all.
So NO 10 for me. And they can stick their telemetry-enhancing Win7 updates where the sun doesn't shine.
.. is to build German data centres with a German telco (I think it's T Mobile) and have them act as data custodian. I admire the creativity and the idea of a contractual firewall, but the problem remains that Microsoft thus actively engages in activities that can be construed as deliberately stifling legal access to information.
I guess we will not know how successful this new idea is until the service has a good infestation of criminals the DoJ needs to investigate: there is no case law yet for this so the idea may sound nice, but nobody has at present the slightest idea if that approach will be effective.
Not that a lack of evidence of effectiveness has ever stopped the sale of anything, ever, but I'd adopt a wait and see approach. This is all *way* too fresh and new to support any claims of sustainability.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
