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from the sunshine-is-the-best-disinfectant dept.
So far this is only in Switzerland, but there is every reason to suppose it will come up in Germany and other countries. In Switzerland, on the request of the Pirate Party, the governmental data protection office is having a look at Windows 10 (article in German, Here is a Google translation).
If the office determines that Windows 10 violates Swiss privacy laws, they can recommend changes to Windows 10. If Microsoft were to refuse to make those changes, the office would have the option of banning Windows 10 within the country. As the article points out, a similar process forced Google to make substantial changes to StreetView, so it can be effective.
Personal opinion: Switzerland is too small by itself. However, if the Pirate Party in Germany, France and elsewhere could initiate similar actions, Europe as a whole could force real change. And, hey, it will show that the Pirate Party hasn't totally lost its way.
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2015, @07:37PM
it's pretty much impossible to get a real, clear and reliable picture of what's going on with windows 10 and how to cope with it. Same for modern computing in general.
There's gotta be a middle road between the cybermen and the tinfoil hat brigade, but fuck if I can figure out what it is...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Francis on Wednesday August 26 2015, @07:50PM
That's why I'm in the tinfoil brigade, by the time we know where that medium lies, it's likely going to be too late to do anything about it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2015, @07:54PM
http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-10-service-configurations/ [blackviper.com] ?
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2015, @08:17PM
Wow, I haven't used that site since XP days. Good to see they keep up with the times, even though I ditched winsucks for Linux after XP.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Hairyfeet on Thursday August 27 2015, @06:32AM
Informative? Really mods? Didn't click on the link I take it? Because if you did you would see, and normally I like Black Viper but in this case he came up with the default settings list by taking pics at Best Buy with his phone, he even writes "Seriously. That is what I did" so even HE knows how fricking dodgy it is!
I'm sorry mods but in this case Black Viper knows about as much as your average Geek Squad employee, that is he is just talking out his ass.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 4, Informative) by EQ on Thursday August 27 2015, @02:36PM
Really HairyFeet? Did you actually read the article at the link or just skim it? Your comment is misleading. Here' ill post a verbatim quote
This information is based upon the Windows 10 desktop versions released July 29, 2015 ...
Notes for Surface 3 and Surface 3 Pro users:
The Safe and Tweaked configurations assume a desktop environment as I do not own either device and cannot extensively test the configurations on them.
How I obtained the default service settings was by going into a local Best Buy and taking pictures of the service settings with my phone. Seriously. As such, they may not be “completely” accurate, but it is the best that I can do without spending a couple thousand dollars on the retail products. I thought about exploiting their (Best Buy, that is) 14 day no questions asked return policy, but decided to whip out my phone’s camera instead.
Furthermore, there is this:
These entries are exported directly from the registry of a default Windows 10 installation.
They are in the .reg file format (many entries are in hex notation), not as you would actually view the content via regedit.exe.
The latter pretty much shows he does have a Win10 desktop set up, from which the reg files were exported. Did you get that? The whole "camera" thing applies ONLY to the service settings on a Surface device. Not a PC desktop Win10. All the others are done on a desktop computer. I suggest you read the whole thing and recant your post or at least post a response clarifying it so its not so misleading. The one talking out his ass here is clearly you.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @12:34AM
You deride privacy advocates as the "tinfoil hat brigade", but that is just a smear term. We already know that companies have absolutely no qualms about violating users' rights if it means they can make more money, and we already know that many users tend not to care about privacy issues. Those two things just don't mix. Furthermore, because this is proprietary software, they can hide all sorts of bad things (which, as history shows, is not above them), so you can't trust it.
Not every claim against Windows and Microsoft is necessarily true, but there is also absolutely no reason to trust Microsoft.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Common Joe on Thursday August 27 2015, @03:26AM
We can't get a clear picture because Microsoft is not giving us a clear picture. And history has proven that when an entity is not giving us a clear picture, it's a very good thing to be suspicious. It usually means they are purposely misleading us or incompetent. Microsoft is so large, it is probably both.
In my opinion, the top is doing it on purpose and leaving the underlings scratching their head so they can later blame it on incompetence. That's standard operating procedure these days at a lot of companies.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Thursday August 27 2015, @04:35AM
Its actually pretty simple and as I suggested might make for a hell of a scoop for Soylent. All you have to do is 1.- Install a legit version of Windows 10 (since Insider versions cannot use privacy settings), 2.- Use a tool such as one of these [ghacks.net] and finally 3.- Analyze the traffic coming out of the machine and see if its still phoning home AFTER everything has been disabled/removed.
If after using one of these tools like "Disable Windows 10 Spying" that not only uses the privacy settings but ALSO does the reg hacks AND the HOSTS blocking AND flips the GPEdit switches you find Windows 10 is still phoning home I'd say you have your smoking gun.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.