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posted by martyb on Tuesday August 23 2016, @04:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the trying-to-get-the-scoop-on-what-they-scoop-up dept.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has accused Microsoft of disregarding user choice and privacy with Windows 10. InĀ a scathing editorial, EFF employee Amul Kalia calls on Microsoft to "come clean with its user community" over a growing number of Windows 10 privacy concerns. "Windows 10 sends an unprecedented amount of usage data back to Microsoft," explains Kalia, noting that enabling Cortana increases the amount of data passed to Microsoft. Privacy advocates have argued that Windows 10 sends back location, text input, voice input, touch input, websites you visit, and other telemetry data to Microsoft.

"While users can disable some of these settings, it is not a guarantee that your computer will stop talking to Microsoft's servers," says Kalia. "A significant issue is the telemetry data the company receives." Microsoft has previously insisted it anonymizes telemetry data, but the EFF is concerned the company hasn't explained exactly how it does this. "Microsoft also won't say how long this data is retained, instead providing only general timeframes."

While telemetry data is clearly a concern, the EFF focuses on Microsoft's confusing link between this data and security patches. "Microsoft has tried to explain this lack of choice by saying that Windows Update won't function properly on copies of the operating system with telemetry reporting turned to its lowest level," claims Kalia. "Microsoft is claiming that giving ordinary users more privacy by letting them turn telemetry reporting down to its lowest level would risk their security since they would no longer get security updates."

The story then proceeds to blast Microsoft's Windows 10 upgrade tactics, as well.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @06:10AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @06:10AM (#392011)
    The thing is the market may then decide that it is too risky to go along with Microsoft as they pull these kinds of tricks and they will start looking for alternatives. For a business like a law firm, how the hell can they assure the confidentiality of their clients if the software they use is sending all sorts of mysterious telemetry data from their computers back to Microsoft? For health care providers and other businesses subject to HIPAA, how can they prevent unauthorised access to health information mandated by the law if their systems are doing the same? I don't think Microsoft's "trust me" is going to wash for those kinds of requirements. Of course, the public must be informed of these sorts of risks of continuing to use Microsoft software if anything is going to change.
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  • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday August 23 2016, @08:39AM

    by cubancigar11 (330) on Tuesday August 23 2016, @08:39AM (#392038) Homepage Journal

    Microsoft stealing data and using it inappropriately is the last thing a law firm has to worry about. Literally. Lawyers wrote the eula and you think they will get caught in it? If a law firm is inconvenienced due to some underhanded loophole, you bet Obama will himself bomb redmond.