Live data from Hacker News

Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

schneier.com

11–20 of 84 posts

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#11

Seems a bit late to make hoopla about a much more minor infraction. With Onedrive I'm facing the nightmare that you are not allowed to configure it until syncing is in progress. If you pause syncing immediately on install, you're not allowed to change settings to prevent said syncing from happening. I have a mix of personal and business data on there. This has been the case for a few years now but recently got worse.…

> Be HN commenter

> Try to avoid own data being on machine

> Log into Microsoft cloud account

> ???

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#12
post #11

Seems a bit late to make hoopla about a much more minor infraction. With Onedrive I'm facing the nightmare that you are not allowed to configure it until syncing is in progress. If you pause syncing immediately on install, you're not allowed to change settings to prevent said syncing from happening. I have a mix of personal and business data on there. This has been the case for a few years now but recently got worse.…

> Be HN commenter > Try to avoid own data being on machine > Log into Microsoft cloud account > ???

I mean, Windows shouldn't be this user-hostile in the first place. Most of it is literally not designed for "HN commenters".

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#13
post #2

the big companies need to go away don't they?

Because the Microsoft date sync it’s web browser you want to wipe out trillions in value to the US economy, projects that could never be done outside of a large company filled with the best aligned talent (custom chips, google search), and hand it over to the next willing coordinated massive player with entirely different values and regulatory laws (China)?

I think this is a very silly idea that would be super destructive and net negative for the world.

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#14

If true, I don't understand how this is surprising. Google has been using all possible tactics to convince users to give them ("sync") all their data, including bookmarks and passwords. So from the point of view of Nadella, why should MS be any different?

It's possible to be OK sharing information with one company but but not another? Especially when MS has a large history of security f'ups.

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#15
post #2

the big companies need to go away don't they?

Because the Microsoft date sync it’s web browser you want to wipe out trillions in value to the US economy, projects that could never be done outside of a large company filled with the best aligned talent (custom chips, google search), and hand it over to the next willing coordinated massive player with entirely different values and regulatory laws (China)? I think this is a very silly idea that would be super destru…

I think it is a very silly idea to think that breaking up big companies would wipe out trillions in value to the US economy.

The whole reason there are anti-competition laws is because many smaller companies are better for an economy than one large company.

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#16
post #4

One more reason not to log in using your Microsoft account at all.

Microsoft makes this extremely difficult, even for an offline account.

If you log into any Microsoft product (Office, Teams, Skype OneDrive, etc), Windows forces you to log into everything else.

This is especially infuriating with Office, as they make it extremely difficult to get a standalone product, they very aggressively push Office 364, so you are forced to log into Office to even use it.

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#17
post #10
post #5

From the article: Has this happened to anyone else, or was this user error of some sort? If this is real, can some reporter write about it? (Not that “user error” is a good justification. Any system where making a simple mistake means that you’ve forever lost your privacy isn’t a good one. We see this same situation with sharing contact lists with apps on smartphones. Apps will repeatedly ask, and only need you to ac…

All companies play politics to gain customer's hearts and minds ($$$). All FAANGs play this game masterfully.

Google’s slogan was once: “Do no evil”

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#18
post #16
post #4

One more reason not to log in using your Microsoft account at all.

Microsoft makes this extremely difficult, even for an offline account. If you log into any Microsoft product (Office, Teams, Skype OneDrive, etc), Windows forces you to log into everything else. This is especially infuriating with Office, as they make it extremely difficult to get a standalone product, they very aggressively push Office 364, so you are forced to log into Office to even use it.

The only common thing in all of those is Microsoft.

I think the solution to the problem is obvious.

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#19
post #5

From the article: Has this happened to anyone else, or was this user error of some sort? If this is real, can some reporter write about it? (Not that “user error” is a good justification. Any system where making a simple mistake means that you’ve forever lost your privacy isn’t a good one. We see this same situation with sharing contact lists with apps on smartphones. Apps will repeatedly ask, and only need you to ac…

Is it at least end to end encrypted?

Re: Is Microsoft Stealing People’s Bookmarks?

#20
post #5

From the article: Has this happened to anyone else, or was this user error of some sort? If this is real, can some reporter write about it? (Not that “user error” is a good justification. Any system where making a simple mistake means that you’ve forever lost your privacy isn’t a good one. We see this same situation with sharing contact lists with apps on smartphones. Apps will repeatedly ask, and only need you to ac…

Why does the presenters describe their appearance and clothes? Is that supposed to be some sort of accessibility thing (for blind people)? If so, how does it help blind people to know that someones top is sleeveless and that they have dark hair?
Post reply on HN