So...
Do they actually get a non-spying version of windows 10 or just one where the chinese government is spying on them ?
Microsoft's supremo for China has told state-owned China Daily that Redmond's ready roll out version of Windows 10 with extra security features demanded by China's government. "We have already developed the first version of the Windows 10 government secure system. It has been tested by three large enterprise customers," Alain …
"* [] governments can force Google to surrender the data"
That is a problem, but the bigger issue, and one easier to manage is; can Google be allowed to report the fact that any of its' customers are getting their data and/or connections reported to a government agency, and for what purpose? Not to out individuals or any ongoing investigations, but to give some transparency as to how much of this activity is going on altogether.
All the big players have stated and are trying to get to a point where they can shed some light into this dark alley. THAT is why I have no problem with Google/Apple/Facebark, but do with the three letter agencies, GCHQ, and their Easter Bloc equivalents. You said it:
"governments can throw me in jail"
And for nothing more than saying "for national security." That's all she wrote, seize your home, money and property. Just like that.
@Mage
Within reason (that typically British phrase) I can live with being spied on by the authorities. What I strongly object to is being spied on by the usual suspects: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, ...
I get the impression that American preferences are the other way: they allow almost anything from corporates but not from government.
So much for the Internet uniting the world. It actually shows how divided we are.
My preference is to be spied upon by neither. Am I allowed to have that preference, or must I pick one? If I had to pick between being spied upon by Google/Facebook/Microsoft, or NSA/FBI/CIA/GCHQ/MI6 or China, I'd pick the latter.
China doesn't have any reason to care about what I do, so they'd file it away in a dark hole and ignore it. Google, Facebook and other companies that make all their money from collecting personal data to sell me to advertisers have the biggest and most annoying impact on my daily life.
While my government or its best buddy (well the UK was our best buddy until Trump decided it should be Russia instead) collecting data on me is and should be innocuous, it has by far the most severe potential impact on me as they control my freedom. Just because they can't take it away for "thought crimes" in today's US doesn't mean it can't happen in my lifetime. The fires of nationalism Trump is stoking have historically never been good for the freedom of a country's citizens.
There is actually some good logic supporting a greater fear of state control/snooping versus that by private corporations. While sometimes quite powerful, even large corporations cannot detain you, lock you in a cell for years at a time, or use deadly violence against you as they see fit.
The state has a largely unchallenged monopoly on all of these tactics. And if you don't believe that the state is ultimately based on exclusive rights to the unlimited use of violence, just try withholding your tax payments (if this is still an option in your locale) as a protest against whatever. The state and/or federal authorities will begin nicely enough with crisp letters and warnings, maybe even a grace period if you're lucky. But if you continue to resist, and to persist in your protest, or if you just fail to fully comply with your "orders", eventually "push comes to shove" and well-armed men will arrive to knock very hard on your front door, intending to take possession of you, the offending human. If you still continue to resist in any physical way, these men are ultimately authorized to send a stream of lead-based projectiles in your direction, at a high enough velocity to end your bad deeds for good.
Corporations have no such options on your life.
You could use a virtual box on from within your linux to run windows if you realy need it so you can controll traffic in and out from the windows ;-). Lets face it, in most cases, we just need (unfortunately) windows hardware drivers and one or another application still exclusive to windows.
We don't need Microsoft to tell us how it's been changed, we can work it out. Some of the more meretricious spyware has been removed, but the rest of it has been reconfigured to copy the Chinese government in. Oh, and a back door of course... ah, but wait, that's there already. Just needed to change the lock and give the Chinese the new keys.
"We have already developed the first version of the Windows 10 government secure system. It has been tested by three large enterprise customers"
We've taken out all the NSA bugware, it has become acedemic seeing as they now control the root CAs ..
Also, the backdoor we gave the Chinese has a backdoor into the backdoor that gives the NSA access to the Chinese 'secure' Windows 10 :)
To understand why, consider that China's military has over two million active service personnel, the nation's railways employ similar numbers and Microsoft’s partner China Electronics Technology Group Corp has more than 140,000 people on its books.
So that's a grand total of maybe 500 licences that MSFT will sell, then - this being China we're talking about.
Yep! And, wait for it, here comes a "brand new OS from China" Windoors China 2018!
"Hey, this is just regular Win10 with a cheap, knock-off GUI."
SHHHH!!1! It's a totally new OS, guy. It's all locked down, and now you can't prove that it's not. Enjoy your copy of Windoors China 2018! You don't even need to download it, just wake up, check your computer, and there you go. You're already running Windoors China 2018! Enjoy!
"What's all that traffic on my LAN? Who are these users?"
SHHHH! You keep enjoying Windoors China 2018! Do not make trouble for yourself or your family, guy!
Ordinary citizens get a version of Windows "secured" to limit any attempt to be anonymous or burrow through the Great Firewall and to ensure the Chinese government can maintain surveillance.
The Chinese military and security services will not touch it with a bargepole, using their own Linux and sui generis systems.
Microsoft makes some money selling its increasingly shitty and exploitative OS and continues to roll out the same excuses as Google and a host of other greedmongers, as if to pretend that China doesn't routinely oppress and murder its own citizens.
There is something darkly amusing about the use of the word "secure" in such circumstances.