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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

#511
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they actually did consider that - that's why they emphasized it was all on device. They thought about it, they just didn't think about how little we would trust that promise.

I'm perplexed that anybody thinks Microsoft were being dumb. They know exactly what they are doing and putting the pieces in place to violate users' security is the point. Theyre just boiling the frog slowly. It'll be turned on by default soon enough and then theyll start looking for excuses to upload it. This can be used to make them a shedload of money one day.

"noncon:" an abbreviation for "nonconsensual;" describes Microsoft's behaviour towards users.

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

#512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run Ubuntu on nearly all of my machines, but I build it up manually from the Ubuntu Server installation to reduce bloat. If anyone was going to have problems with Proton on an Ubuntu machine, it's me. Yet, every game I've tried works fine. Everything from Among Us to Metro Exodus runs great. Some games require a little fiddling, sure, but I've never had an issue that couldn't be resolved using some copy-pasting fro…

I am curious about your Ubuntu setup. Any particular technical reason? Any especially thorny bits? Do you see improved performance or fewer background processes? I am well past the point of enduring this kind of OS pain, and will use the path well trodden by others. I have always assumed that distros layer on so many extensions, customizations, etc that Gnome or KDE would be alien if naively installed.

> Any particular technical reason?

Fully de-GNOME'ing desktop Ubuntu is Sisyphean. It's easier to build up Ubuntu Server from a plain terminal.

> Any especially thorny bits?

Nvidia drivers. Just check that all apt packages with the word "nvidia" in them have the same version number. Otherwise Xorg and/or torch will go boom.

> Gnome or KDE

I'm using neither! I have no login manager. I type my username and password into a login shell, run "startx" and that starts i3.

And yes, it is somewhat alien. GTK and Qt based applications will have no theme, so they all default to that black-on-gray circa Windows 95 look.

> Do you see improved performance or fewer background processes?

Yes and yes. With i3wm loaded, my desktop idles at about 100MB of RAM used. My desktop compares favorably to similarly-specced entries on openbenchmarking, especially in IPC-related tests.

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

#513
post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the browser cache? And isn't there some capability in many browsers to store form field contents when navigating back/forward too?

At this point browser cache is known to everyone, and many people do clear it regularly. Browsers save passwords and form data but as far as I know they don't upload that data to Google. Still, chrome is very popular and it sends google people's browsing history and all their DNS traffic.

Yeah, but in theory Recall doesn't upload anything either, which is why it's analogous. And in fact Chrome does upload passwords, and they're not even E2E encrpyted in the default configuration.

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

#514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is generally true, but Windows is the standard for far more SMBs than larger enterprise customers, and in that context it’s not nearly so straightforward. I have a client, a health insurance benefits broker for other local businesses. They do very well for themselves, but it’s just 2-3 full-time people, so there’s never been much cause for a full-on domain with GPO policies to maintain a strict, stable state acr…

Yeah, MS will continue to do this kinds of abuse, it’s in they DNA by now

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

#515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Security nightmare aside, it seems like it would be handy all the time. Surely everyone has had trouble finding a website or document or email again, days or weeks later?

Documents and emails are probably easier to find via old-school text searching, though.

What if you don't know where it was though? What if you saw a bit of text, but don't remember if it was in outlook, confluence (if so, which), mattermost (if so, which server), or teams (maybe a screen share?). Those are all systems I use at work, and while I've never been quite that lost about where to start, it's also not wildly exaggerated.

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

#516

Heres something I just don't get. Microsoft just got their ass handed to them by the US Government because os (lapses in) security. Extremely more than coincidentally, Satya Nadella told the entire Microsoft org that if anyone had to choose between features and security, to choose security. I'm hearing from Microsoft people that all product roadmaps are deferred for a few months while security features are addressed.…

What's so hard to get? Security and trust are lip service. Corporations lie to make a buck. How is it not obvious? Actions speak louder than words.

[deleted]

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

#517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your auth cookie expires. The username/password you type in next time it expires is far more valuable. And it might not even be necessary to obtain cookies or credentials if I can just see whatever you could see when you’re logged into various sites.

This is all moot anyway because Microsoft has already said they are now going to encrypt everything behind Windows Hello making it as secure as my password manager.

What if Microsoft is the party I do not trust?

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

#518
post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different from having screen recording on?

there's a giant banner saying that screen recording is on, while there's nothing for recall? im not sure im following your question.

There are many screen recorders that do not show a "giant banner", and even if there weren't, it's ~200 LoC to implement an efficient screen recorder for Windows that's hidden.

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

#520

When Recall is enabled, it should have an overlay stating that it is active so that all users are aware. Something at least as obvious as the old Windows activation overlay.[0] Otherwise, every creepy roommate, bad partner, bad friend, etc... will take advantage of this to do bad things. [0] Ideally more obvious, like when Windows screen recording is running.

They can already do that. Look at ActivTrak
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