I think Recall is really cool and it's a shame that it's disabled.
Why...?
Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
441–450 of 572 posts
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#442In 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 do want it but I want it to be optional and preferably something built from source. That being said, it won’t be that hard for someone to build their own Recall with an onboard sandboxed LLM. That way users will benefit from the power and know exactly how it works so that they have no questions about the security behind it. It’s a more powerful and useful search.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#443What I think MS should do if they really believed this is a thing people want is make it an actual sold product. Not free. Not a sub. Just like when we used to have boxed software back in the day. Of course it would be on Windows Store or whatever hogwash they use to push software. Remember when you had to actually take market risk to publish something and not just "give it for free"? I get times are past that, but i…
Yes, call them out -- all of these "amazing AI innovations" are bollocks.
If they're that essential for our existence, then go ahead and sell it to consumers.
As the Rabbit (and Humane) before it demonstrated, none of these things are (a) essential, or (b) polished and ready for daily use.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#444In 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…
All the replies ignoring the elephant in the room: three letter pressure. To me such large moves could indicate an event is in the near/medium future.
An event?
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#445Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope - links to porn sites (but who browses porn without Incognito Mode! :), but it's not going to contain actual images.
As far as metadata versus data, the URL of a static image automatically discloses the image itself. The only way to claim that the history doesn't actually contain the image is if you assume that the site has gone defunct. Unless, of course, you're willing to argue that a porn image stored on the local hard drive isn't contained in any folders on the same PC that soft-link it. You might have an interesting time tryin…
Am I confused about what browser history is or what? Unless you open a static image in a new tab to look at it or you download it (as opposed to simply looking at it on the page it's on), then how on earth would its URL show up in browser history, which by definition tracks user-visited webpages (i.e. top-level links) and not every single URL the browser makes a request to?
Sure, info about non-top-level links is extractable from e.g. request caches, but that's a different thing from the browser history SQLite DB.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#446It's interesting to compare this to the Chrome/Safari/Edge browsing history, which is stored in an unencrypted SQLite database, and tracks what you do for the last 90 days. It's just a bit less visual, Incognito/Private modes work, and some users clear it more often. But a whole lot of the surveillance attacks people imagine about Recall apply just the same to the browser. I think it's the "little brother" casual att…
At least on macOS, I can't navigate to the directory holding Safari's data with other apps (without special full-disk read permissions).
There's also always private browsing, which exists specifically because people are aware of the implications of a browsing history and a persistent cookie jar.
That awareness will be much harder to build for an always-on screen recorder.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#447Earlier quoted context omitted.
They clearly did not consider the larger security implications. That is both the point and the problem. This points to structural issues at Microsoft.
Maybe security oversight happens later in the process. No need to bother with that if the feature doesn't even work.
If so, that's a problem. It might explain why this happened, but that doesn't mean it's an acceptable practice, especially after recently claiming that security is a primary focus for all project teams.
Security requirements often completely change the architecture of a product. Things can be built without security that are significantly more challenging to accomplish when strict data security requirements are in place. Architectures that assume no security often completely break down when security is tacked on top.
If this is a matter of a product not yet getting "security added", that again raises major concerns about how Microsoft is building products.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#448Earlier quoted context omitted.
Corporate clients get whatever they want. I am certain that their Windows 10 support won't be pulled in Oct 2025 as MS has threatened for everyone else. And when they migrate to Win11, it will almost certainly be a separate OS image free of the garbage bloatware and ads that the consumer devices are plagued with.
Am I just imagining their saying that Windows 10 would be the last Windows? I had thought they would be moving to an Apple-esque model where OS updates would just become iterative and avoid the old EOL/upgrade cycle. It’s how I justified all of their tangential money-grabs on other fronts.
You aren't the only one, from my understanding it was a misspoken thing by one higher up. It spread, so much so people I knew working at Microsoft spouted it as fact.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#449I still don't understand how this got this far. Enabling this in any corporate setting would be a compliance nightmare.
Corporate is never on the bleeding edge of Windows feature updates. They bring security updates first, but feature updates are at least one generation behind, maybe more waiting for Microsoft to fix bugs and doing their own regression testing, plus they get to choose wich features employees receive or are enabled by default via group policy. In other worlds, recall was never making it into any corporation anyway.
I would have agreed with you until revently. And now, everyone is throwing email, chat, code, everything into cloud based AI tools at a highly regulated company. This happened 6 months after they just locked everything down for actual employees because of an IP leak. Very strange times…
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#450Why have it all then?
Truth is they will have it off at first then an update will only do the windows folder and slowly creep from there. Another update will “accidentally “ turn it on then more options will be available and more will be defaulted on.
There will not be a single option but multiple toggles at some point.