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from the we-are-really-security-conscious dept.
According to The Register Microsoft plans to enable their WIFI Sense feature on all versions of Windows 10 by default.
WIFI Sense has been lurking on Windows Phones since version 8.1.
A Windows 10 feature, Wi-Fi Sense, smells like a significant security risk: it shares access to password-protected Wi-Fi networks with the user's contacts. So giving a wireless password to one person grants access to everyone who knows them. That includes their Outlook.com (nee Hotmail) contacts, Skype contacts and, with an opt-in, their Facebook friends.
With every laptop running Windows 10 in the business radiating access, the security risk is significant. A second issue is that by giving Wi-Fi Sense access to your Facebook contacts, you are giving Microsoft a list of your Facebook friends, as well as your wireless passwords.
Microsoft offers a totally ridiculous workaround: you can simply add _optout to the SSID to prevent it from working with WiFi Sense.
Microsoft's page on WIFI Sense hasn't yet made it clear that every Windows 10 computer using WIFI will have the feature on by default. But that page does also include this little gem:
Wi-Fi Sense uses your location to identify open networks near you that it knows about by crowdsourcing.
Where are the lawyers when you need them?
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday July 01 2015, @05:58PM
... find me.
Just last nightbI noticed that gmail asked me if I could narrow my location down to something more specific than Eugene, Oregon. Look if you're going to stalk me you could at least be discreet about it rather than leaving your business card in my underwear drawer.
Many of my contacts are not my friends. Commonly they are recruiters that I have interviewed with but havent bothered to delete them.
So if I were offered that NSA cryptologist position that I have always dreamed about, all the folks at Manpower Professional can hunt for candidates from Ft Meade?
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]