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Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

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Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#331

Post by piva00 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #226
nomel wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that little thought has gone into privacy or security. I think the thought is proportional to the amount of thought a non-tech customer will put into it. Nobody seems to care about or understands privacy these days. Everyone knows they're being tracked everywhere they go physically and on the web. People use their real names, address, etc for every junk service they sign up for, without seeing any reason not to. If…

It's how it's always been, always. Many here may be too young to remember when many consumer products came with a "product registration" card. This was basically a postcard that asked for all sorts of information, such as your name, address, phone number, birthdate, sex, SSN, marital status, annual income, interests, other products owned, whether you own or rent your home, etc. People willingly filled these out and s…

> It's all much more pervasive and invisible now, but it's basically what has always been done.

Basically is doing a lot of work here, the level and degree of how much data is vacuumed, processed, and used for targeting nowadays is orders of magnitude of difference from these primitive ways.

A tent and a house are basically the same: a shelter.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#332

Post by al_borland »

SavageBeast wrote: post #126

In all the MS Recall drama, I've yet to hear or read one single person utter something to the effect of "Wow - great!!! - I've been waiting for something like this for years! This will solve at least one of the major issues I face regularly!". In fact, it seems to me the only people that really want this feature are the ones trying to push it down everyones collective throat. Why is MS pushing something so hard when…

I've heard some people say this, but those people either don't understand what's going on, or they have to start off by staying, "security issues aside," which is basically saying that they'd like it in a magical world where they could have the feature without anything the system is doing to enable the feature.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#333

Post by rezonant »

atribecalledqst wrote: post #260

Maybe a bit off-topic, but I sure wish they'd do this for OneDrive! I installed Windows for personal use for the first time recently (although I use it exclusively at work) and it drove me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS that my home drive was mapping to C:\Users\atribecalledqst\OneDrive. What I hated the most was that the File Explorer just calls the folders in there e.g. "Documents" and "Pictures" without showing the full path.…

Interesting, our experiences are different here. I suspect it's because I installed Windows 11 (23H2) using a local account using the OOBE bypass (not because I particularly hate the Microsoft account thing, but because this machine uses an external WiFi adapter and requires drivers in order to work, so I could not have done it even if I wanted to). The drivers are actually included on the device, but there's not a clear way to accomplish a driver installation while in the captive OOBE, even given the ability to launch a command line.

I did later connect my Microsoft account. In my installation the OneDrive folder is empty and the entries in Explorer map to the normal places (C:\Users\X\Pictures etc). If I open one of the default folders, it does show a "Start backup" entry in the address bar that is referring to OneDrive, though. If I open the OneDrive folder, it asks me to sign in (entering password) and set it up-- which is funny, because the Windows user is signed in using a Microsoft account already- so seems like they haven't connected those dots properly yet. In theory this might be their way of implementing a security check for uploading all your files, but if so it's an awkward way to do it.

> Additionally, some programs still seem to want to use the OneDrive folder by default, like I think Office programs still do their best to use them.

If I remember correctly, there is an API that programs can use to locate common folder locations for users (such as Documents, Pictures, etc). My guess is that your account still points to the C:\Users\X\OneDrive\Pictures instead of C:\Users\X\Pictures. If you could adjust those directly (maybe in the registry?), I would imagine that it will work correctly in these programs, especially since I doubt those programs would break on my setup, where there is no OneDrive subfolders (though I don't use Office so I can't check). And in case you wonder if there really are no subfolders in OneDrive since I can't open it in Explorer without signing into it- it shows nothing when viewed via PowerShell.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#335

Post by torstenvl »

pocketarc wrote: post #301
gleenn wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the number one thing that annoys me about so many apps, especially apps with clear use-cases for offline use like listening to music, reading, and learning apps. I don't understand how so many app writers have never gone for a run through a canyon or flown on an airplane. I specifically pay money to SoundCloud for instance just for the "feature" to cache the music locally and somehow it regularly gets stuck c…

> I don't understand how so many app writers have never gone for a run through a canyon or flown on an airplane. In the UK, every time I got on a train, I'd experience that. And it was worse than not having internet; you had internet, but with extreme packet loss and instability, meaning that every app out there would simply stall, even if it already had the data to do whatever it is I wanted it to do, because it was…

Audible recently started doing this, to the point where I had to revoke its permissions to use cellular data just to get it to work right.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#336

Post by wvenable »

haswell wrote: post #190
drexlspivey wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Without Recall, an attacker needs to get a program to stay resident in memory to log keystrokes, screen contents, etc Or it could just steal your cookies which are out there in the open.

Cookies are of relatively low value compared to a database of everything the user has typed and seen.

What value is that? My auth cookies are far more valuable than anything I typed out in the open today.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#337

Post by neogodless »

atribecalledqst wrote: post #260

Maybe a bit off-topic, but I sure wish they'd do this for OneDrive! I installed Windows for personal use for the first time recently (although I use it exclusively at work) and it drove me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS that my home drive was mapping to C:\Users\atribecalledqst\OneDrive. What I hated the most was that the File Explorer just calls the folders in there e.g. "Documents" and "Pictures" without showing the full path.…

This is especially obnoxious for Desktop and Remote Desktop Connection.

The former because my desktop is... where I want things just a certain way for THIS computer, not across the cloud. And because it's a PITA to undo and set it the correct way.

The latter because of course I use Remote Desktop on multiple computers, but it keeps saving a "default" file in the same place across computers, and throwing errors left and right because they conflict. So stupid.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#338

Post by ls612 »

EGreg wrote: post #250
ls612 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair for me the extensions that get that are uBO, Privacy Badger, and Tampermonkey. I trust gorhill and the EFF to not fuck me over on my data, and Tampermonkey kinda needs those sorts of permissions to work. My password manager has read access to every website but I'm already trusting it with all of my passwords so...

Seems like a very juicy target. These extensions should not store any data without a master password that you input every time. What if someone stole the signing key, and submitted an update to Chrome store, even for a little? Oh wait that is only for Chrome Apps. For extensions, they can literally update themselves anytime. Someone would just have to steal the certificate. If an extension that reads all data uses a…

>Oh wait that is only for Chrome Apps. For extensions, they can literally update themselves anytime. Someone would just have to steal the certificate.

Mozilla reviews signed extension updates. Something tells me uBO is one of the most scrutinized given how very many users it has.

>If an extension that reads all data uses a CDN (like CloudFlare) that CDN can execute a MITM attack against it and download new code, that would he catastrophic even if it was caught 1 day later.

My threat model doesn't include state actors targeting me specifically. Not sure much of anything works against that threat model besides maybe iOS in Lockdown Mode as your only device.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#339

Post by rezonant »

jandrese wrote: post #272
atribecalledqst wrote: post #260

Maybe a bit off-topic, but I sure wish they'd do this for OneDrive! I installed Windows for personal use for the first time recently (although I use it exclusively at work) and it drove me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS that my home drive was mapping to C:\Users\atribecalledqst\OneDrive. What I hated the most was that the File Explorer just calls the folders in there e.g. "Documents" and "Pictures" without showing the full path.…

Dear OS writers: Internet access is not always guaranteed or reliable. Please do not assume that the cloud is a viable solution for every user. I ran into this on my phone awhile back. I knew I would be out of service for some time but had some PDFs I needed to reference. So I downloaded them to "files". Que surprise when I later go to look up a value and there's a little cloud with a down arrow button next to the PD…

Yeah, my machine connects over WiFi on an external USB 3 adapter because I'm too lazy to finish my Ethernet project. The adapter requires drivers, which are handily included on the device itself as a mass storage device. But there's seemingly no way to get those drivers installed in the captive environment, I even tried using the "launch cmd" key shortcut and manually running the executable, but Windows wouldn't have it. And there's no option to install drivers so you can proceed with Microsoft Account sign in...

Literally my only option was to use the local account bypass. How long before they fully remove that, though, remains to be seen.

Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash

#340

Post by chx »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #208
chx wrote: post #194

This is nothing. An abusive spouse will easily switch it to on. It's very likely Windows will downright push you to do so anyways. How does Microsoft intend to mitigate that harm? Because AirTags worked out just fine: > AirTags have been a tool for stalkers and domestic abusers since Apple launched them in 2021. Police records show that this is a problem, and the legal system has failed women who were targeted by sta…

This is sheer moral panic. Of course tools can be misused by bad people, but that doesn't make it the tool's fault ("how many women will be beaten and murdered because of Recall"). It is the fault of the person misusing the tool to do bad things.

Yes, much as airtag was sheer moral panic.

Techbros never admit their myopic view.

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