Microsoft, which purchased Skype in 2011, will soon increase its monitoring of Skype and other services. Starting May 1st they will further examine ostensibly private communicatiosn for 'offensive language' and 'inappropriate content' for the purpose of blocking. The changes are rolled out as part of a new terms of service advisory for the company's many services.
Microsoft will ban 'offensive language' and 'inappropriate content' from Skype, Xbox, Office and other services on May 1, claiming it has the right to go through your private data to 'investigate.'
From IDG's CSO : Microsoft to ban 'offensive language' from Skype, Xbox, Office and other services.
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Microsoft to Ban 'Offensive Language' From Skype, Xbox, Office and Other Services
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(1)
(1)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @09:50PM (26 children)
Nevertheless, it shows that Deep State has found a loophole: "Private" organizations are not beholden to the restrictions of the Constitution; "private" organizations may restrict free speech.
(Score: 3, Informative) by urza9814 on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:03PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:46PM
I don't! Spank you!
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:08PM (17 children)
What this shows (well, again) is that Skype is 100% broken and no one should use it. Your conversations will not be private from either Microsoft or the government, the software is proprietary, and now they're apparently going to police the content of someone's speech.
Really, any devices these companies offer (Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Nintendo) are fundamentally broken by design, since they don't respect the users' freedoms. But most of the addicts and masochists known as "gamers" will happily continue to use these oppressive devices and services, and even outright defend them in many cases.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gaaark on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:47PM
Mycroft AI for the future win!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:01PM (15 children)
no ones forcing you to use them. design and build your own. quit acting like you're entitled or have some right to use others resources as you see fit. jesus.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:15PM (3 children)
And that is why we need more regulations to make sure private companies don't violate the rights of users, even if the user agrees to some EULA.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:49AM (2 children)
Wrong. Users need to stop making themselves so dependent on these services of private corporations. As the other poster said, "don't like it? Don't use it".
There's Free software and communication protocols out there that don't rely on some company's secret, proprietary software or servers. If you want privacy, use those. Stop throwing your money at some greedy corporation and then complaining about their product.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:33PM (1 child)
The problem is that with that Free Software, you'll not manage to call any Skype user. The network effect ensures that moving away from Skype gets too painful for most people.
What is really needed is open protocols. Then all clients could compete without the network effect causing any issues.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @05:27PM
if only FOSS would do more, then slaveware peddlers would enable freedom? you are brainwashed.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:20PM (3 children)
Straw man. I did not say anyone was 'forced' to use these services. I advocate not using them.
But whether you are forced to use the service or device or not has nothing to do with whether what the companies are doing is unethical. Not respecting people's freedoms [gnu.org] is unethical. Spying on people is unethical. Digital restrictions management is unethical. This is all true whether or not using the service is mandatory.
I would also argue that there are significant negative externalities when proprietary software and monstrous surveillance engines like Facebook become popular. There comes a point where even if you refuse to use any of it, you are still affected by others using it because you will inevitably have to do business with someone who does, and then it's your data on the line. With Facebook, someone can upload a picture with you in it without your permission and then tag your name, even if you do not use the service.
Take note: This is the quality of the type of person who would defend these companies and practices. Zero intelligence whatsoever. It leaves you hoping that it is merely a troll.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:56AM (2 children)
But whether you are forced to use the service or device or not has nothing to do with whether what the companies are doing is unethical. Not respecting people's freedoms is unethical. Spying on people is unethical. Digital restrictions management is unethical. This is all true whether or not using the service is mandatory.
Only in your opinion. What's "ethical" depends on your opinion; there's no universal way to determine what is or isn't ethical. To many people (like those who live in some authoritarian countries), spying on people and not respecting their freedom IS ethical, because in their view these things are needed to maintain a stable society and strong government. To other people, digital restrictions management IS ethical, because it supposedly helps content creators get better compensated for their work.
It's all very simple: if you disagree with the values of the company that makes a service or device, and you don't like the restrictions involved in using that device or service, then don't use it.
I would also argue that there are significant negative externalities when proprietary software and monstrous surveillance engines like Facebook become popular.
Absolutely. But freedom-respecting alternatives do exist, such as Diaspora, but no one wants to use them. We've seen lately just how dangerous Facebook is, but is anyone going to change their ways? Hell no. They were able to do it in the earlier days of the internet when everyone dumped MySpace to switch to Facebook, but that just isn't happening now; the 30+ people absolutely refuse to give it up. The only way Facebook is going to die (or become the next MySpace) is for enough time to pass that their users die of old age, since the under-30 crowd doesn't seem to be so attached to it like the idiot X-ers (I'm an X-er BTW, so I have every right to bash my generation full of morons; the older Millennials are pretty stupid too).
Anyway, I agree with you: I advocate not using them. That's the best we can do now IMO.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @06:21AM (1 child)
Yes, to authoritarians, that sort of behavior is alright. But I think of the term "authoritarian" as an insult of the highest caliber to begin with, meaning that such people are mere trash to me. Clearly, that's just my opinion and many other members of this wretched species disagree.
Other than that, you're really just pointing out that different opinions exist, which is quite obvious. I will fight to have my views implemented.
I will say, however, that DRM and spying have consequences that demonstrably exist and have nothing to do with someone's opinion. All someone can do is say that they don't care about those consequences, but if they deny they exist, then they are just wrong.
And how do these alternatives stop someone from uploading a picture of me without my permission and tagging my name, thus allowing Facebook to add more facial recognition data to their database? It doesn't. Real privacy laws are needed to stop that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @06:15PM
What stops someone from posting a picture of you on a bulletin board worth your name?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:46AM (5 children)
Those of you with this attitude really need to be identified in real life. That way, when Big Business finds some reason to come after YOU, the rest of us will know that you deserve that boot on your throat. Nay, you actively lobbied to have a boot crushing your throat, you don't merely deserve that boot. It will save the rest of us the effort of defending you. Sheep are prey animals, after all, and their destiny is the slaughter house.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:05AM (2 children)
Ayyyy-men, brother, and +1. You've been reasonable and insightful lately; keep it up!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:05PM (1 child)
Sorry. Negative. I'm the same old asshole that I always am. I enjoy pissing off left and right. I'll point out that I don't have cyclical mood swings and what not. It's you who is feeling especially chummy. We've seen this each spring since we've met. It's those hormones, and the nesting instinct doing it to you. Now, you may apologize by reminding us which of the pits of hell you think I'll be spending eternity in.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday March 29 2018, @07:27PM
You don't pay too much attention, do you? Hell is not eternal, and it's a state of mind more than a specific place. Only you know what your Hell will look like, and even then, you won't know until you get there. You might also not know how long you'll be there until you're done. I can venture one guess for you, though: after you're done you're probably coming back as a woman :D
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:00AM
Those of you with this attitude really need to be identified in real life.
Why? We're not dumb enough to use XBox Live or Skype. If you have a boot on your throat from Microsoft, it's because you happily chose to have that boot on your throat. No one's forcing you to use Skype or XBox Live (certainly not the latter; I guess you could make an argument for the former for business use, but even here, who cares? That's mostly your employer's problem, not yours, as long as you only discuss work-related stuff on Skype). Anyway, no one *needs* to play online console games, and there are plenty of alternatives to Skype these days, both Free and proprietary (the latter ones even work through your browser).
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @06:29PM
Sometimes, the truly special yes men make good pets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @05:22PM
are you on the cheese? the op didn't say anything liek what you are replying to. go get some sleep, you crackhead.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:13PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday March 29 2018, @10:18AM
Microsoft most certainly does not have a monopoly on the desktop OS market.
There are many Linux options in the free space, and they have competition in the commercial space from Apple.
(Score: 2) by unauthorized on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:41PM
It's not a loophole as much as it wouldn't be a loophole for the state to pay for private armed goons to oppress you.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:41PM
But if Skype gets away with it, then one day the government might demand it for all services, pointing out that it works quite fine for Skype.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:28PM (1 child)
So will MS ban the language and leaning of the games on xBox? No. So they are hypocritical.
Then, in my world, "Windows" is a swearword too. "Zark! Belgium!" - Zaphod
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday March 29 2018, @07:17AM
Hm, are you in the running for a Rory?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by pkrasimirov on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:06PM (3 children)
I expect in "phase 2" they will ban 'offensive political views' and 'inappropriate opinions'. In "phase 3" chats and emails will be integrated with the new Social Credit Score system (pilot version in China now) to prevent terrorism and crime. It will allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step. Of course it comes at a price so taxes might need to be adjusted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:53PM (2 children)
But I thought phase 3 was profit?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:08AM
To bureaucrats, control is the equivalent of profit.
It's why they went into bureaucracy.
(Score: 2, Informative) by tftp on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:10AM
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:16PM (5 children)
So, which language are they going to ban?
I'd almost want to create an account, write some documents in several different languages, use that particular language's method of expression and see what happens. (Un)fortunately, my very well developed aversion to cloud-crap prevents me from hacking their language skills. Well, fuck'm anyway.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:27PM (1 child)
"Ficken"
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by fritsd on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:51PM
"ficken" means "the pants pocket" in Swedish, I think.
And fornicating in German.
So just surround it with some more innocent Swedish words!
"kiss" = piss
"slut" = the end
"sex" = six
I'm too tired now to make a coherent sentence with these, tyvärr.
(Score: 3, Funny) by inertnet on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:43PM (2 children)
Which languages are going to be banned? Probably not C#, F# or Visual Basic.
Hopefully JavaScript though.
(Score: 3, Funny) by BsAtHome on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:48PM (1 child)
Brainfuck will survive!
++++++++[>++++[>++>+++>+++>++>+>->>+[>.>---.+++++++..+++.>>.>+.>++.
How offensive is that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @04:50AM
That's what she said!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Justin Case on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:21PM (10 children)
I suppose they will have to ban their own name, because right now I cannot think of any word in the English language that is more offensive than: Microsoft.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:30PM (1 child)
I've got a new company going in stealth mode, but don't worry it'll be hard to miss the launch of Megahard.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:33PM
I missed launches of megahard thingies, but there is plenty of videos in which they enter the dock.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:34PM (5 children)
Dear Sir Just In Case,
This is your first and final notice. You must cease and desist to use our Dear(TM) and Good(TM) Name(TM) out of context and associate our Dear(TM) and Good(TM) Name(TM) with your offenses and your offensive thoughts. You are instructed to purge our Dear(TM) and Good(TM) Name(TM) from your mind or you will be purged from our Dear(TM) and Good(TM) Name(TM) services.
Thanks you.
Sincerely,
Microsoft (Language) Police Force Team
(May the canon fodder use Windows)
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:33PM (4 children)
Dear Microsoft (Language) Police Force Team,
It is with great pleasure and unbridled relish that we have, PER YOUR REQUEST, purged your Dear(TM) and Good(TM) Name(TM) from our minds, servers, workstations and premises. Please do not send unsolicited gifts and bribes to us to try and win us back.
Yours ..|.. sincerely
Users with Brains
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:14AM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:32AM (2 children)
Pretty near 100%?
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:51AM
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:56AM
To many zeros in your estimate. The real number might be around 10% of the entire population. "users with brains who want and are able to free themselves" To qualify, a user must have the intelligence and the savvy to even use computers at all. Then the user must desire to be free of Microsoft. And, finally, he must be able to free himself. Real life experience suggests that maybe 10% of the population in general qualifies.
For the most part, those who have "freed" themselves of Microsoft by migrating to Android have simply leaped into another form of bondage. Besides, how many of those Android users install Microsoft apps onto their devices? In reality, their escape from Microsoft OS's was just an accident, because Microsoft failed to get into the phone and mobile device market in a timely manner.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:49PM
That's what she said.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:52AM
Oracle.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:45PM (5 children)
I *really* hope this change includes "Skype for Business" aka Communicator aka Lync...because this change might actually make management around here start to consider replacing that heap of garbage...
(Score: 5, Interesting) by BsAtHome on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:53PM (4 children)
Does that actually matter? If the *other* side you are communicating with is not on the same agreement, then you have a problem too.
The "Covered Services" include:
Skype in the Classroom
Skype Interviews
Skype Manager
Skype Qik
Skype.com
Skype
I am actually more worried about the education versions, which are explicitly covered. However, in the EU we have much more strict rules about privacy. Microsoft listening in on those will be a significant problem for both Microsoft, the users and the educational institutions (the institutions have to ensure strict privacy).
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:08PM (1 child)
I'm not sure if Skype for Business even allows calls to regular Skype users...if it does we don't ever make use of that feature. We use it only for internal communication, so if the IT department decides to switch to something else, that resolves the entire issue as far as I'm concerned. I haven't used Skype personally since back when they decided that only Intel users were allowed to use all of the features of their software...and Microsoft buying them out certainly didn't make me any more eager to go back to it. Doesn't look like Skype for Business is covered though, so there's goes that sliver of hope...I guess I can still hope it irrevocably destroys the Skype brand, that *might* help, but seems a bit unlikely...
A very interesting point...definitely something to watch...
(Score: 1) by Qlaras on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:31AM
SFBSkype is an optional layer that those in charge of SFB (hosted On-Prem or Cloud/O365, doesn't matter) have control over.
At least with the On-Prem version you can restrict it on a user-by-user basis (via the External Communication policy config); along with SFBSFB 'Federation'. (Which can be none, whitelist, or wide open)
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:39AM (1 child)
Was it clear this applied to spoken conversation, or only text messages over the Skype chat?
Real time monitoring of Voice seems impractical.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday March 29 2018, @04:29AM
Youtube apparently does voice parsing while looking for stuff to ban. I expect parsing a mere audio stream is that much easier.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:57PM (20 children)
Is it offensive if I say (or type) "shit"? Can you explain to me why that's an offensive word, and why you feel that you should have the power to stop me from using it?
Is it more offensive than "your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries"? How could that possibly be?
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:12PM (14 children)
'your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries' is deeply offensive.
No, that's not bull-fecals, it means 'your mother fucked like rodents, your father was a petty drunkard' (elderberries wine)
(GRIN)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:19PM (2 children)
There you have it. Truth is offensive. Therefore, we must get rid of the truth.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday March 29 2018, @07:19AM
Is that the truth?
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday March 29 2018, @08:10PM
I'm offended by your true comment!
Seriously, human instinct with regards to information that contradicts previously held beliefs is to disbelieve it and dislike the person saying it. For example, I can offend a bunch of Soylentils by saying "Climate change is happening, and human CO2 emissions are the primary cause."
That truth greatly offends people who want to think they're completely rational. You aren't. You're irrational, and use apparent rationality as self-justification. Psychologists have known this for a long time.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:20PM (10 children)
So in the future only the educated will be able to hurl insults, but none of the people you want offended will get it. Meh
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:48AM (9 children)
Unless the people you want offended are also educated, that is. (back to you, aristarchus, if you want to add something about the advantages of an education)
For everybody else... well... there's always Rule 34.
(grin)
---
Seriously speaking, this gets to show there's no way in hell there's a way to stop offensive (or any kind of) speech, whatever MS or the govts will be trying .
It never happened even under communist regimes.
Proof: "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:12AM (6 children)
Back at you, c0lo! FTFY!
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:24AM (5 children)
You aren't serious in a "Seriously speaking" section.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday March 29 2018, @08:13AM (4 children)
Am I to infer that you do not get the reference? Or am I to ascertain that we should leave Star Trek to the Star Trek? My comment was very serious, in light of attempts to claim that discrimination is a religious freedom. Shirley you know about Stonewall [wikipedia.org], and I do not refer to the Jackson one.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:23AM (1 child)
You can more than interested, you can be sure of that.
I'll try parsing again in the new context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:26AM
s/interested/inferring (shitty autocorrect)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:43AM (1 child)
I still don't get it. Where's - in this thread - that claim that you mention?
And what's the relation between a claim that discrimination is a religious freedom and the Stonewall event?
Further, I'm also lost in regards to the relation between the said claim and/or Stonewall to the 'Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra' meaning (without the culture and the stories stories behind the allegories, the language remains indecipherable) - case at the current point, your reference to Stonewall in the context of my reply.
Would the culture be shared between the two parties in the dialogue, they could exchange info or insults without MS (or govt as a snooping party) understand or intervene to stop an offense in progress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Friday March 30 2018, @08:31AM
You have made your point, c0lo, they cannot censor us if they cannot understand us. Right now I have an enormous Yellow Rubber Duckie and a Floating Letter N anchored in the Lagoon.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Reziac on Thursday March 29 2018, @04:31AM
"Shaka, when the sewers backed up."
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by OrugTor on Thursday March 29 2018, @04:24PM
modded you up for the Trek reference.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:52AM (3 children)
I don't know where people get this idea that freedom of speech has an exception for anything they decide to find offensive.
You're offended? Good. Go be offended somewhere else.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:03AM (2 children)
Yes, this ^ !!!
You, the reader, have every right to be offended at ANYTHING that I, or any other member, might post on this forum. Anything at all. We, the members, are under no obligation to give the smallest of damns that you might be offended. Deal with it, you sniveling puke! (That last was intentionally offensive, and I'll be offended if you fail to take offense.)
(Score: 3, Funny) by mhajicek on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:37AM (1 child)
I'm sorry, I really tried, but I was unable to be offended by your comment. Perhaps if you would include some Vogon poetry?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Thursday March 29 2018, @08:08AM
It is hard to actually be offended by Runaway. To begin with, he is so ignorant, and that excuses much. And he tries to be a provocateur, but fails quite badly because he is so ignorant, as previously mentioned. So there is nothing left but accusations of pederastry, which are so blasé and obviously a projection of his own dark psyche. . . Too dark, actually. Once a Sailor, always the buggery. I am never offended by Runaway. Instead, I have pity upon him. Poor Runaway!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:08AM
Because it's a vulgar word for stinky poo. And we don't like to think about stinky poo, especially not in polite company. More tea, Vicar?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mendax on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:05AM (1 child)
This really sounds like an April Fools joke, but it's a little early for that. Since this is not a joke it sounds like Micro$oft is putting its toes in the water and seeing how loud its customers will scream.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Thursday March 29 2018, @05:16PM
All screaming will be moderated to a muffled applause. For the safety of the children. Otherwise you are free to express
ouryour opinion. Be polite and express a nice opinion, just don't be offensive. Because you will make us moderate you. You don't want that, right? Nobody wants it but we will be forced to do it so just do as we want and everything will be okay.By the way, there's a software update required now on
ouryour personal computer so don't try to click that power off button. Or we will be forced to disable it for you. And for the children.(Score: 1) by JustNiz on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:05AM (2 children)
...who gets to decide what is "offensive"?
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:19AM
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:03AM
Microsoft does, of course, because it's their service.
Don't like it? Don't use it.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:11AM
It wouldn't work for me to just move to google webmaster tools. I need them both.
Just log file analysis doesn't give me all the info I require.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:28AM (2 children)
So, if you BUY Microsoft Office and install it locally you can create any damned thing you want. RENT a version in their cloud and they plunder through your work and decide day by day whether they want to continue allowing you to use your documents. Of course they are making it harder and harder to just own a copy outright. Which is why you should be migrating to Open/LibreOffice. And unless Microsoft really does finally allow an opt-out on the keystroke loging and other spyware, timt to migrate off Windows entirely. Everyone SHOULD have done that a decade or two ago because of the security problems, but the privacy issue is now acute.
And while your documents are in their cloud, apparently every other corporation can mine it for advertising, governments can plunder it for crime think and outright crimes. Assuming some hacker doesn't just download all of it.
And don't just bitch about Microsoft here, move your files to Google and see what changes. Nothing. And you can hop between em all, there won't be more than a few months difference in EULA changes because they are herd animals. Especially now that Facebook is being made an example of. They were the laggard in politically correct banhammering (they do it too, but not as aggressive and with insufficient zeal) so it looks like they are going to be destroyed as an example to the others.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:19PM
yeah yeah
real businesses don't care though because the IT people that say these things were replaced by H1Bs or simply the job is gone in a foreign land where H1Bs aren't needed.
And the executives aren't worried about employees encountering privacy violating things on company time. They are worried about reducing the costs.
This cloud thing... did you read any MS marketing material? What they give to the sales people? they AVOID the IT department, and go straight to leadership and finance managers. They express the costs, the affect on the bottom line, and how much they can save by getting rid of the server people that helped make MS who they are today.
Export to azure, run hybrid for a while, and... eventually you will be locked-in, mostly sooner than later.
It was bad enough to use all MS products before. But now you can't even pull the plug and be isolated with your purchase. Instead if you do that, you lose everything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @11:55PM
Sex workers are reporting that their Google Drive files are mysteriously locked or vanishing.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9kgwnp/porn-on-google-drive-error [vice.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @07:25AM (1 child)
This is inline with my hypotheses that Microsoft was told to buy Skype so that the US Gov could read the communications.
Skype was P2P and kinda encrypted before Microsoft bought it. Back then if you tried to send messages while your recipient was offline the message would actually be stuck on your client and only when both of you were next online at the same time would the message be sent. This probably made it too inconvenient for people trying to snoop on the communications.
But this changed not long after Microsoft took it over. Your sent message would sit on Microsoft's servers and be delivered when your recipient was online ( http://techrights.org/2012/08/02/skype-admissions/ [techrights.org] ).
With this latest news either Microsoft is filtering at the client level or the server level. To me it's more likely it's at the server. Think about it, which is more likely, Microsoft rolling out the offensive content lists to clients making it more likely that nosy people will figure out what Big Brother doesn't want the sheep to talk about (potentially causing lots of negative publicity) or Microsoft just having the official and secret lists stay at the servers?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:21PM
i agree
the day there was that first major skype outage -- we joked that was when skynet came online, or the lawnmower man had his 'birth cry' on the net. it was truthfully when the taps went into skype.
you want secure, do ssl or ipsec based email without imap if you dont have high tech. pull the content and delete from server. imap leaves it there. imap is what most everything defaults to now, for a reason.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:48PM (2 children)
Well, I guess people in some village in Austria will have trouble telling others where they live. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Thursday March 29 2018, @05:22PM
That's not what's considered offensive by Microsoft or by the Security Department.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday March 29 2018, @06:04PM
Or worse, they screw it up and do the same thing to the residents of Scunthorpe, UK [wikipedia.org].
Then there's the whole question of euphemisms. Will sci-fi swear words like "smeghead", "frell", and "frak" be excluded from the Newspeak Dictionary or not?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.