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I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

jonathan.porta.codes

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Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#11

Post by JoshTriplett »

sudioStudio64 wrote: post #5
JoshTriplett wrote: post #2

This goes along with the news that Windows 10 backs up your drive encryption key by default, and that Microsoft can use it to decrypt your data. In "good faith", of course.

That's a new one on me. Bitlocker keys can be backed up to onedrive if you want, but you can also store them in a TPM or a smartcard (physical or virtual).

See http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/ ; "Windows 10 automatically encrypts the drive its installed on and generates a BitLocker recovery key. That’s backed up to your OneDrive account." Together with the ToS: "We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services."

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#12

Post by CSDude »

Upon seeing these options in the installation, I thought I downloaded beta version that needs these for feedbacks Realizing I have installed retail version, I regretted my decision now I will read the all EULA for the firet time in my lifetime to see what it gets without asking. And probably I will just keep windows for games only.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#13

Post by JoshTriplett »

wvenable wrote: post #9
sudioStudio64 wrote: post #3

Of course you did. Large companies have no vested interest in building systems that do the "right thing" for you as defined by tech types like us who are arguably more sensitive on this subject than most people. They are building services that take your information and try to do something interesting enough with it to make it worthwhile...and why is it on by default? Because they want to make money off of the new fea…

> and why is it on by default? Because Cortana would be useless without it and that's a big user-facing feature of Windows 10.

Something like Cortana could have been built to work locally, using your own resources. But it wasn't. This was an opportunity to say "we're not like Siri and Google Now, we respect your privacy", but instead they built something just like them.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#15

Post by sudioStudio64 »

wvenable wrote: post #9
sudioStudio64 wrote: post #3

Of course you did. Large companies have no vested interest in building systems that do the "right thing" for you as defined by tech types like us who are arguably more sensitive on this subject than most people. They are building services that take your information and try to do something interesting enough with it to make it worthwhile...and why is it on by default? Because they want to make money off of the new fea…

> and why is it on by default? Because Cortana would be useless without it and that's a big user-facing feature of Windows 10.

I know. I think it's actually pretty cool. (Though it doesn't seem to work well with some builtin mic's.)

I really like the direction they are headed.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#18

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

sudioStudio64 wrote: post #3

Of course you did. Large companies have no vested interest in building systems that do the "right thing" for you as defined by tech types like us who are arguably more sensitive on this subject than most people. They are building services that take your information and try to do something interesting enough with it to make it worthwhile...and why is it on by default? Because they want to make money off of the new fea…

Granted most individuals may not be concerned with these intrusions-by-design, but businesses dealing with sensitive information - or who simply have a vested interest in security - may see this as a reason to forgo the Microsoft Office suite altogether, which is one of Microsoft's few stable revenue streams after all these years.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#19

Post by username »

graycat wrote: post #8

Okay. Good to know. So, when I decide to upgrade from Windows XP, I will install the legal DVD I have of Windows 7 and stay with that for years! No Windows 8, 10, etc. for me until Microsoft makes some fantastically strong and solid statements about compatibility with old software, security, and privacy.

> when I decide to upgrade from Windows XP

Oh no.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#20

Post by ewzimm »

Windows is now essentially a personalized, cloud-based operating system with the primary interface as a personal assistant, so I expected to see all these things as defaults. The advanced features just couldn't work without it. I'm glad there's at least an opt-out, but I do think that Windows needs an OS-wide incognito mode, just a simple switch to record or not record data.

I generally use that on my browser for when I hand my laptop to someone else and don't want their activity polluting my history, but now there's the risk of the entire OS learning someone else's habits when they just need to use the computer and don't want to log in. Sometimes, guest accounts are too restrictive.

I do like having the option of a personalized experience, and Microsoft is generally one of the most restrictive companies when it comes to sharing data. With their push toward more personal cloud services, I hope they will take special care to maintain that record, although everyone knows that certain groups like government have ways of getting whatever they want if it's available.

Hopefully, some of the fine-grained permissions of Windows Phone will soon carry over to the unified platform for those who want it, but either way, I would still do any especially sensitive work on Debian or a similar system.

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