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Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

neowin.net

221–230 of 517 posts

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#221

This is just bananas to me that a browser would perform "super resolution" at all, much less by default . Couldn't this wreak havoc on doing things like viewing medical images, inserting false detail that isn't there? As well as on text in images, e.g. inventing a cleanly readable but hallucinated license plate number on a car, or financial figure, where the original is blurry? Not only does this seem like a terribly…

I'm guessing they didn't put much thought into the "enhancement" aspect at all. They just needed some justification to collect lists of every image you view.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been railing about all the spying Microsoft Teams is doing across corporate networks for the last year or so, to nothing but shrugs, 'I'm sure Microsoft isn't using our business data' or similar responses. People never learn.

Never mind teams, imagine what kind of data Office gives them. Every email, every word doc, and every excel document created by nearly every company on the globe is theirs to pick through! It must provide insane levels of insight into what most companies (even those that compete with MS) are doing.

Teams takes all that data, plus all the conversations about it, including audio, IMs, web browsing, etc and creates reports tying it all together. Teams is the 'one ring to rule them all' that allows it to all be coordinated in context. It takes all of data that Microsoft can gather from other apps and weaponizes it into a competitive advantage against its own customers.

For example, if Bob at ABC Company is working on an MS Word doc, yes, Microsoft can steal that data. But it's worse when Teams is on a corporate network, because maybe Bob has a Teams meeting, pulls up the Word doc, discusses it with coworkers Sarah and Bill, and now Teams tracks the doc, the conversation, who was in the conversation and what the conversation was about. It tracks the email conversation that follows. All of this is proprietary information. Teams has handed Microsoft the internal working projects, context, thoughts and strategy of ABC Company.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When my job starts supporting that?

I don't know your circumstances of course, but I'm anal enough about this that I'd consider that a deal breaker. An employer that forces me to use an OS that treats me like the audience to a television soap opera (meaning, a dumb shmuck who can be puppeted around) is not worth it, it'll kill my joy in working real quick. Tried it, it was horror. So right now, I'd say I'd rather drink my own piss than use a windows bo…

I’m a lawyer, not a dev. It’s a different world.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending medical images to Microsoft seems like a major HIPAA violation.

It's sending URL's, and it's not clear if it is also sending cookies or other auth info. I would think / hope that any images covered by HIPAA would not be leakable by URL alone.

Hopefully no identifying info in the URL!

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't use Firefox/Chrome/Edge or Linux. I don't want to be the product.

Geez can hacker news users no longer detect sarcasm? This comment is clearly pointing out the absurdity (or more specifically, incompleteness) of the grandparent argument, not bashing on Linux.

You don't recognize that the comment that you are replying to is a sarcastic extension of the argument?

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#226
post #28

Just imagine if Google was doing something like this; I bet the HN servers would melt down from the outrage! MS often gets a pass in these areas because people think of it as the "underdog", when in reality, MSFT is the biggest software company out there.

Yup, pretty common theme on this and other online communities. If Apple does something – this is obviously the correct thing to do, and everyone should copy them. If Microsoft does the same thing – meh, no one cares. If Google or Meta does the same thing – pitchforks, outrage, a thousand daily top-voted blog posts detailing how terrible these companies are. Goes to show how much of the current outrage culture is driv…

It’s not just marketing, News media hate Google and Facebook for controlling their top-of-funnel and generally outcompeting them in the eyeball market. They will never allow good coverage of them.

There’s also the general media trend of punching up / publishing surprising content so it gets clicks. Google especially had the reputation for being “good” for so long that any kind of expose or criticism rings as juicy and surprising. Microsoft had the reputation for being “bad” for so long that they are expected to be bad; it’s them being “good” that is surprising and gets clicks.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#228
post #172
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you name some Zelda clones?

The best ones it feels like an insult to call clones, but Tunic is a very good one that comes to mind.

Tunic is nothing like Zelda, except that both characters wear green and swing a sword. It's really good in its own way, though.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vivaldi is my browser of choice due to sync, and because Firefox as much as I love it does not perform well when scrolling on mobile. Of course, Firefox has sync as well.

I don't have problems scrolling in Firefox mobile that I've noticed, and I don't run flagship phones (I'm running a few years old Galaxy A51). I do run uBlock on Firefox Mobile though, which I'm sure helps immensely, so maybe that's the main difference.

I have a late model samsung and browsing a news site like NYTimes works better with Vivaldi than with FF. FF seems to stutter if I scroll quickly, as if getting "snagged". Maybe Vivaldi is preloading resource vs. FF trying to load stuff realtime while scrolling? I'm taking a wild guess.

It was annoying enough for me to make the switch.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#230
post #5

That's nothing. This is on by default: "Allow Microsoft to save your browsing activity including history, usage, favorites, web content, and other browsing data to personalize Microsoft Edge and Microsoft services like ads, search, shopping and news."

If you are not paying for your browser with your wallet, somebody else is paying for you. It has all sorts of implications.

I doesn't matter how much you pay for something, they'll still collect all the data on you that they can because you can never pay more than they'd make taking your money and also collecting your data.
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