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Microsoft admits just how much it spies on it's customers
In addition to it's wall-to-wall coverage of CES, from women in showers [bbc.co.uk] to Drone people carriers [bbc.co.uk], Auntie [theguardian.com] reveals what was supposed to be an "oh wow" press blurb [bbc.co.uk] from Microsoft.
In the blog entry [windows.com]
[Microsoft] listed statistics on how many minutes had been spent by users in total in the Edge browser and the number of photographs which had been viewed in the Photo app. The firm also said that Windows 10 was now active on over 200 million devices.
The BBC then went on to point out
Since Windows 10 was launched, Microsoft has been tracking information about how those with the OS are using it.
Until now though, relatively little has been known about what data is being collected.
and listed some claim from Microsoft
- 44.5 billion minutes spent by users in the Microsoft Edge browser across Windows 10 devices
- 2.4 billion questions asked to virtual assistant Cortana
- 30% more Bing search queries per Windows 10 device versus previous versions of the OS
- 82 billion photos viewed with the Photo app
- More than four billion hours spent playing PC games
A talking-head professor is quoted by the Beeb
"[This information] might be collected for one purpose, but how long will it be stored for? What else are they going to use it for?" he said.
"As soon as it goes outside the EU it's no longer protected by things like the UK's Data Protection Act [wikipedia.org]."
...
"I've noticed it because I've been installing it a lot recently. The default is for them to track a whole lot of things about usage and send details back to Microsoft," he said.
An earlier edition [imgur.com] of the BBC page included
A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment on the issue but provided a link to a blog [windows.com] and a web page on Windows 10 and privacy. [microsoft.com]
This line has since been removed from the article, presumably the Microsoft damage control team have been in touch, and have provided the following
"Microsoft is deeply committed to protecting our customers' privacy," a spokesman for the company told the BBC.
"Consistent with all modern services and websites, the Windows 10 information highlighted in the blog on January 4 is standard diagnostic, anonymous analytics that enables us to deliver the best Windows 10 experience possible.
So that's all good then. [twitter.com]
