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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

#381

Post by Zarel »

dhruvrrp wrote: post #364
Zarel wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely false. For one thing, SRWare Iron is a scam: http://www.insanitybit.com/2012/06/23/srware-iron-browser-a-... For another thing, Chrome doesn't log every website you visit. The closest thing they do is suggest autocompletions for searches/URLs you type in the URL, which is a straightforwardly-explained checkbox in Chrome's privacy settings.

> Chrome doesn't log every website you visit But it does. If you get a new android phone and log in with a google account then it updates your browser history on chrome. Which could only be done if your non-incognito history is stored in google's servers.

Oh, I forgot about that - that feature wasn't available when Chrome was launched.

To be fair, that feature also isn't very hidden; the sync settings let you turn off history sync or use a sync passphrase which prevents Google from seeing your browsing history.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#382

Post by batou »

briandear wrote: post #378
batou wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google are just as bad. I've moved to a dumbphone and an IMAP mailbox at an independent company. I tried Android but that was pretty much impossible to keep control of (Moto G 2, Android 5.0)

Are you really this paranoid? You must be loads of fun at parties. It's interesting though because your British government is tracking your phone, your texts and watching you as you traverse London on CCTV. But luckily Microsoft doesn't know about your affinity for Yorkshire Terriers and love of Bass Ale. Don't get me wrong, I value privacy, but all things in moderation, including paranoia. I personally don't think m…

I spent a number of years working for nefarious defence contractors so the paranoia is somewhat justified. My paranoia is clearly required as I've been responsible for the security architecture at a number of financial companies and have a lot of experience dealing with both the human and technology aspects of data.

Safety in numbers is only valid if it's difficult to discern facts from the flock. But it's not. The technology logs and correlates specific data for fast retrieval rather than collecting noise and then discerning the signal later on.

Oh and I'd never drink Bass; maybe an Abbots or two ;)

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#383

Post by rhino369 »

codeshaman wrote: post #290
rhino369 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some risk but it's not high. Microsoft is a huge, rich company. If it leaked they were violating their own privacy policy that blatantly, there would be the mother of all class action lawsuits. There would federal CFAA, Economic Espionage Act, etc., investigations plus antitrust abuse investigations.

How do you explain PRISM and similar revelations about surveilance and spying ? The corporation itself might behave like an angel, but there are agencies which can force it to open or install backdoors. Given that the number of such requests is relatively small, the probability of it being detected is low and even if the victim does notice it, then the corp can always say - "they twisted our hands".

As far as I can tell, PRISM was about getting access to data the company was already keeping. So the NSA would get your Google Location data, but only if you were giving to Google. As far as I know, the NSA hasn't made someone collect it anyway.

Legally, the heart of the NSA legal basis is the 3rd party doctrine that states that data held by a third party isn't private. It would be a very illegal search to have Microsoft invade your privacy under NSA order.

Of course, there is also some risk that the NSA or some other party goes rouge as does it anyway. But you have that problem with essentially all software and hardware.

You'd have to compile your own OS from source code you inspected thoroughly. And even then, the NSA is almost without a doubt sitting on linux 0-days.

And literally (and I don't mean figuratively) nobody knows whats on all the firmware in all the components in all your devices.

The risk of being an NSA target is super low. The harm in being a false positive target is pretty low too. Even if the NSA hacked your windows install, they won't find any plans to blow up the Sears tower and then go about their business.

Compared to risk that a car accident will destroy your existance, who cares about this tiny risk.

I probably wouldn't windows if I were a KGB agent, but other than that, why worry.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#384

Post by batou »

sliverstorm wrote: post #375
batou wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely no one wanted it. No one asked for it. We were spun a load of marketing disguised as listening and attention. This turned out to be exactly what Microsoft wanted which was another aggressive move against customers both business and consumer. Despite all this the noise and confusion and dubious love for the products is shining out of the arses of every non technical news source. What did we expect? I've lef…

I don't know about no-one. I have three laptops, one desktop, one media PC, one server, one tablet, and one phone. The cloud movement has been helpful to say the least. Obviously I don't speak for everyone, but I think "no one wanted it" is a stretch.

No one wanted this implementation. There are plenty of ways of solving exactly the problems without the amorphous concept of the cloud without introducing any burden on the user.

I have a 3 desktops, 2 laptops, a NAS and 2 servers and have solved the problems transparently without any cloud services.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#385

Post by briandear »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #320
QUFB wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Secondly, Chrome send every website you visit to their servers to be logged. Again, this is not explained in some easy opt-out screen and in fact the only way to get around this is to use SRWare Iron, where they removed that code. Citation?

My experience: A while back I put together a Linode server for a small project. Because I was lazy I made a private page of web links for the site logs and made the URL something long and obscure with plenty of backslashes that couldn't be spidered or guessed. The main site had no Google analytics and barely any traffic. When I checked the logs a couple of days later my private log page had been accessed externally.…

I prefer Safari because I always thought it weird to let a company who's primary revenue is targeted advertising control my browser.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#386

Post by PretzelPirate »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #338
matthewmacleod wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate what you're trying to say, but ultimately... Sucks to be you. If you don't want others to share that data, you'll have to stop interacting with them.

Do you hold such a hard line stance on the moral correctness of revenge porn, I wonder? After all, if you don't want others to share the data, you shouldn't interact with them.

I think its probably pretty good advice to follow: If you don't want someone posting revenge porn after you break up, don't give them nude photos/videos. Its always a risk you either accept or avoid.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#387

Post by Zarel »

batou wrote: post #307
Zarel wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And let me guess, they don't have your phone number memorized; they probably save your phone number in their phone's contacts list alongside your name, which is automatically backed up in the cloud in either Google Contacts or iCloud depending on what phone they use. Expecting your friends not to use cloud services seems a bit unreasonable and unenforceable. Are you really going to tell all your friends they should w…

No as that information is public. What we talk about isn't.

Oh, uh, I thought you were talking about your name.

Microsoft collects your friends' names so it can spell their names correctly when you use speech-to-text or related features. I thought that's what you were objecting to. What kind of data are you talking about?

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#388

Post by batou »

Zarel wrote: post #387
batou wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No as that information is public. What we talk about isn't.

Oh, uh, I thought you were talking about your name. Microsoft collects your friends' names so it can spell their names correctly when you use speech-to-text or related features. I thought that's what you were objecting to. What kind of data are you talking about?

Conversations (SMS backup), photos (onedrive), email (outlook/office365), calls (skype) etc etc.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#389

Post by FireBeyond »

batou wrote: post #368
FireBeyond wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would challenge you to show something conclusive that states that I am forbidden by law from stating "I know this person. His name is batou." while pointing at you.

That's fine. That's no different to an IP address or a DNS record or something that you'd put on an envelope. That is public information. The content of our communications is the matter under consideration i.e the content of the envelope.

And yet your original post was in response to this:

"If you tell me your name, I'm free to repeat that to whoever I want. If you aren't ok with public information being re-broadcasted, don't go outside."

to which you said:

"Actually in the UK it is covered by the Data Protection Act. Interesting times ahead. If you knowingly or unknowningly give personal information away without my consent this is illegal."

What you're saying now and what you said then are two different contexts.

Re: I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10

#390

Post by Domenic_S »

Maarten88 wrote: post #317
phjesusthatguy3 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't have any Windows-only applications keeping your younger-than-double-digit children on Windows, well then now is your chance to put them on anything-other-than-Windows. My own children are still using computers with Windows 7. They play Spore (Windows only), Sims 3 (Windows only) Minecraft (Java, so playable anywhere), Osu! (no idea, really), and a couple of other games. I have no intention of upgrading W…

My son, who mostly plays Minecraft, does not understand why many of his friends use Apple PCs. The "render distance" and framerate in Minecraft on our home PC (running Windows 8.1) is twice that of his friends, and our PC cost half what a similar Apple costs. As a parent, I'm also not sure if an equivalent of Family Safety exists on other platforms. Windows sends me weekly overviews of our kids PC use and blocks inap…

On my desk now I have two MBPs and one windows PC. The macs are for work, the PC is for games (and occasional windows testing). I use the same kb/mouse/monitor for all 3.

After being out of the PC scene for 10+ years -- and as a rabid apple fan -- let me say this: PC gaming is AWESOME. Games I'd only played on Mac before come to new life on a proper gaming PC. That said I would probably go into a different line of work if I had to use Windows as my primary dev box.

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