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Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

reuters.com

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Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#271

Post by Gormo »

hnpolicestate wrote: post #123

You know what would be catastrophically bad? A Recall AI feature being baked into Android. Like most people don't actually use personal computers anymore, even laptops aren't common among demos younger than millennials. I can tolerate switching to Linux or buying a steam deck. But if this became a hard coded feature of android or iOS I'd have to give up smartphones entirely.

I'm sure Lineage, Graphene et al would immediately remove it.

Something like that would likely also motivate a surge of interest in pure Linux phones, like the Librem or PinePhone, which would accelerate their development, and might be a net positive.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#272

Post by filleduchaos »

jahewson wrote: post #180
999900000999 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you can't afford a Mac, and you're not technically literate enough to install Ubuntu ? Speaking for myself, I dual boot mint and windows because I really like playing games and making music. Both of those are absolutely subpar on Linux. Outside of our nerd bubble, most normal people don't really want to run desktop Linux. Macs are great, but I can't really game on them.

What is this laptop that costs less than a Mac but is good for gaming?

Honestly, pretty much every laptop that isn't an absolute potato is good enough for gaming.

Contrary to what both people who don't really play games and people who make their gaming rigs their entire identity tend to think, the vast majority of games on the market run just fine on half-decent hardware with a concession here and there as far as resolution, particle systems, etc go. At $700+ you can get plenty of bang for your buck; even more so if you buy secondhand.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#273

Post by xcv123 »

ChicagoDave wrote: post #79

This is only the beginning of AI-centric offerings that were oversold and will be delayed or quietly abandoned. LLMs are nice for simple things, but they’ve already reached their limits. No amount of data will solve the iteration and complexity problems.

The delay of Recall has absolutely nothing to do with technical limitations.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#274

Post by 999900000999 »

creata wrote: post #162
999900000999 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you can't afford a Mac, and you're not technically literate enough to install Ubuntu ? Speaking for myself, I dual boot mint and windows because I really like playing games and making music. Both of those are absolutely subpar on Linux. Outside of our nerd bubble, most normal people don't really want to run desktop Linux. Macs are great, but I can't really game on them.

If someone isn't technically literate enough to install Linux, they have three options: 1. Become technically literate enough to install Linux. Distros like Fedora are very easy to set up imo. 2. Ask someone else (relatives, local computer store, etc.) to set it up for you. 3. Continue using Windows.

Alright.

What happens when something weird happens and you have to manually change the kernel or your hardware just isn't supported.

I still wouldn't recommend Linux to most normal people. So your stuck with 3 realistic options.

Mac. Chromebook. Windows.

Chromebooks are actually really capable, but forget gaming or serious music creation.

I've been using desktop Linux for over 15 years. It's still much more work than normal people want to do.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#275

Post by 0xFEE1DEAD »

tflol wrote: post #178
simonw wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very cynical take. I've not seen anything to make me think this feature is intended for surveillance as opposed to personal utility. The personal utility benefits are very clear to me - the problem is the ease with which malicious attackers might steal the data (if they can breach the system).

You're taking about this company: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/purview-compliance https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/communication-comp...

This is disgusting.

I did not know that Microsoft offers these tools to organizations. I'm honestly shocked that this exists. They'll 100% abuse preview to offer similar features in the future.

Over the last years/decade, they worked hard to improve their image in the tech community, and I have to admit, it worked, at least for me. They've just lost all the respect I had for them.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#276

Post by rchaud »

MP_1729 wrote: post #136

Satya Nadella's Microsoft is such a weird company. It's like there's one side of it that is running with Zuckerberg's "move fast and break things" and the other side is saying "wait, we're the most important software company in the world! Things can't break!"

Even before Nadella, MS took insane risks with Windows. Ballmer oversaw the disastrous Windows 8 wigh the fullscreen Start Menu, which was hated far more than Vista ever was. W8 didn't even last 3 years before being replaced by Win10.

And that's to say nothing of the decade-long attempt to compete with Google and Apple in mobile with Windows Phone/RT/Nokia, which Nadella mercifully unwound.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#277

Post by disqard »

andybak wrote: post #148
throw20240511 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and your take is quite naive. Surveillance is absolutely the purpose, overt or not. The huge push for bossware/spyware for windows in 2020+ demonstrates that the less ethical portions of industry desperately want to spy on users workstations! Eventually there will be retention laws in certain regulated industries that mandate such technologies! Why enable this potential abuse? Microsoft is trying to Sherlock the surv…

This doesn't make sense. Screen recording is trivial. Why go to this much trouble? I don't buy the "Trojan Horse" argument in this case. Occam's Razor, folks.

Screen recording is Data.

Being able to perform text-search queries on those is Information.

Having pie charts of "what % of the time did my minions spend on work-related tasks today?" is Knowledge.

What's lacking IMHO, is the Wisdom to ask "just because you can build this technology, should you?"

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#278

Post by dylan604 »

simonw wrote: post #90
segasaturn wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My takeaway is that Microsoft has been trying to boil the frog, but slipped and turned the temperature up too quickly. They're retreating for now, but make no mistake that Recall will slowly trickle back into Windows under another name. Every major power broker wants something like Recall to become the norm - bosses to spy on their employees, governments to spy on their citizens/enemies, and tech CEO's to collect tra…

This is a very cynical take. I've not seen anything to make me think this feature is intended for surveillance as opposed to personal utility. The personal utility benefits are very clear to me - the problem is the ease with which malicious attackers might steal the data (if they can breach the system).

How is this cynical? In what way have evilCorps of any name/brand shown you in the past that this is not exactly what will happen? Even Apple's CSAM back pedaling hasn't been long enough ago to see what the next attempt at it will be.

I do not trust anyone attempting to make money on AI that will not ultimately just be a data hoover for whatever model it is they are using. That's being generous in their motives. Anyone that is trying to hide their ulterior motives of out right spying would use this as the perfect cover.

So, am I an asshole in assuming everyone has nefarious intent or are you a good sheeple for giving people benefit of the doubt?

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#279

Post by Dylan16807 »

adamrezich wrote: post #147
simonw wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very cynical take. I've not seen anything to make me think this feature is intended for surveillance as opposed to personal utility. The personal utility benefits are very clear to me - the problem is the ease with which malicious attackers might steal the data (if they can breach the system).

This is not the first time they've done this—have you forgotten the "Xbox One-Eighty," when they initially announced the Xbox One as having mandatory Kinect functionality, only to similarly realize they boiled the proverbial frog too quickly and renege?

If "this" is temporarily backing off the surveillance frog boil because they went too fast, then the Kinect is clearly not an example. It has been over ten years since the launch of the Xbox One and they never did anything surveillancey with the consoles.

Re: Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns

#280

Post by disqard »

ryandrake wrote: post #174
layer8 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s damning is that they didn’t foresee the obvious reaction. It’s characteristic of the bubble that informs their product design decisions.

I would guess that many low-level workerbees in Microsoft foresaw the obvious reaction, but it's career-limiting to tell the emperor he has no clothes, when the emperor surrounds himself with sycophants who only tell him YES.

This is probably endemic to Big Tech now -- the chorus of AI, AI, AI is still growing, and that's all the execs want more of.
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