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Windows 10 Commandeers Users' Upload Bandwidth

posted by takyon on Tuesday August 04 2015, @07:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the embrace-extend-share dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket uploads this Windows shocker:

Microsoft will use its customers' upload bandwidth to deliver Windows 10's updates and apps with a peer-to-peer technology resembling BitTorrent, a fact that has caught some by surprise.

Baked into Windows 10 is a new technology Microsoft dubbed "Windows Update Delivery Optimization" (WUDO) that is turned on by default for all editions of Windows 10. However, only some SKUs (stock-keeping units) -- notably Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro -- are set to provide updates and apps to other devices when connected to the public Internet.

Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education, volume-licensed SKUs for large companies and organizations, also have WUDO enabled, but default to sharing updates and apps only within a local network.

WUDO resembles BitTorrent in its basics, and like that file-sharing technology, uses a peer-to-peer delivery system to spread the load to PCs worldwide rather than relying on a centralized-servers model.

If WUDO is enabled, Microsoft can point others to locally-cached copies of updates and apps on users' Windows 10 devices that are connected to the Internet. When that happens, a user's Windows 10 PC acts as a substitute server for others, and any customer whose device is tapped for WUDO delivery has given Microsoft access to their upload bandwidth.

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  • (Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Tuesday August 04 2015, @09:46PM

    by iWantToKeepAnon (686) on Tuesday August 04 2015, @09:46PM (#218159) Homepage Journal
    So you downloaded patches VIA p2p networks. That's fine. Or are you saying the game turned your computer INTO the p2p network? If users download win10 patches VIA a p2p network, that's one thing. The os by default turning you INTO the p2p network, well that's another.
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  • (Score: 2) by skullz on Tuesday August 04 2015, @10:10PM

    by skullz (2532) on Tuesday August 04 2015, @10:10PM (#218169)

    I... wha... 7!

    AFAIK the Bliz downloader makes you a peer on the network. Otherwise you really aren't using P2P, you are tapping into a large redundant network. So VIA as INTO.

    • (Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Wednesday August 05 2015, @04:20PM

      by iWantToKeepAnon (686) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @04:20PM (#218616) Homepage Journal

      I probably should have said "IANAG (i am not a gamer)". But on my PC I can be a part of the torrent P2P network as long as I am running a client. So I download a new copy of my favorite Linux distro and I leave the client running long enough to "give back"; but then I close it. So, applying that experience, downloading Blizzard games/updates doesn't mean to me that you are forced into a P2P network 24x7 w/o consent.

      So I guess my Q still remains, does Blizzard make you a mandatory part of P2P? Or on an opt-in basis just when downloading/updating? It sounds to me like Win10 makes you a member of a P2P network 24x7 w/o consent. (fwiw I know you can opt-out, but that's a hidden feature you have to ferret out)

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      • (Score: 2) by skullz on Wednesday August 05 2015, @05:16PM

        by skullz (2532) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @05:16PM (#218652)

        Ah, gotcha. The answer is no to both Bliz and M$ forcing you to send data to other computers in the P2P network, you can opt out of either one. But it is enabled by default.