I get that it turns off for metred connections, however that doesn't stop you from having limited bandwidth, unless you have something so insane that you don't notice (e.g. Google Fibre).
I definitely don't have double standards about privacy, and I don't think anyone who complains about what Microsoft is doing will not complain equally as much about Google or Apple or any other big name who masquerades spyware as some irresistible feature or personal assistant. Personally, I don't think anyone should be allowed to do such things, and I make a point of staying away from such software.
However, it's not strange to be suspicious. Microsoft definitely is changing their business model. They haven't stopped caring about money; in the end they're still a big company and only exist to make a profit. Maybe they're changing to a more Google-like self-your-information-to-advertisers model. Whatever the case is, they're clearly not planning to make all their money by selling copies of an OS with lots of "user-friendly" features, and for that reason alone we should be wary.
The fact that someone is earning money through my browsing habits is what makes me turn off some of the features Microsoft offers. No bueno.
(inb4 the whole "Google does the same thing!!!11!!" debate, because I know they do)
I'm surprised I didn't lose any programs even I'm going back to 7. Only thing is lost is Mircosoft office since I installed during Windows 10 the rest of the programs are untouched.
Windows Update is background priority when it comes to bandwidth. You probably shouldn't have to worry too much about it hogging up the bandwidth.
Calling it "spyware" is quite...OK, I don't know how to put it, but are we stretching the definition by a lot?
You can turn off these features if you want to. There's nothing forcing you to leave it on, other than the fact that these features need it. And boy, these features need that information for a very good reason. What good is a virtual assistant that doesn't know about you, for example? You wouldn't want to have a real assistant to be in the dark, either, for the most part.
Microsoft hasn't changed their business model at all. It just so happens that the upgrade offer is free for Windows 7 and 8.1 users; the Windows 10 OS itself is still sold separately as a retail products, and OEMs whose machines don't meet the criteria will still need to pay for the licence itself.
Either way, privacy this, privacy that. This would be the article to know about privacy in Windows 10, anyway, and I'd rather have explanations for the important bits..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware
Not really. Any software that gathers information without your knowledge is technically spyware.
I would prefer an open source assistant (if I wanted one at all), so I could know exactly what it was doing. It's not the use of data I have a problem with, it's the not being able to know how exactly that data is being used.
They are changing their model. A few years ago, a free upgrade would've been unthinkable. They're also open sourcing projects which have been kept closed for a long time (.NET core). They're testing the waters at the very least.
Except that they're not entirely transparent (from that article). They just refuse to comment on whether can snoop on Skype conversations, for example. They can definitely read your text chats though, but I'm sure that's buried in the EULA.
That's likely intentional, Windows 10 is spyware OS and it has already become clear that Microsoft doesn't want you to disable the spyware features easily.There seems to be an interesting thing going on with telemetry and Windows 10 right now. https://arstechnica.com/information...ndows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/
Bug or intentional? Who knows, but for the most part it doesn't seem to involve actual identifiable information. Still bad form since it's still doing something, and that's going to make some privacy nuts never shut up.
That's likely intentional, Windows 10 is spyware OS and it has already become clear that Microsoft doesn't want you to disable the spyware features easily.
How did you arrive to that at a glance? We must have been reading completely different articles. As always, when interpreting things, it does help to not always assume the worst and consider that a bunch of things are already crystal clear.
The more I'm finding out about Windows 10's mandatory invasions of privacy that you can't turn off, the more I'm wanting to revert to Windows 7. Microsoft should either update Windows 10 to disable these invasive bits of code, or face prosecution for egregious invasion of privacy and for illegally enforcing their monopoly with their SecureBoot requirements. (which I know won't happen thanks to our wonderful President.)
Indeed, I'm starting to encounter more and more issues, most of which Windows 7 never had. Then again, there hasn't been a really good version of Windows since Windows 2000 (which I wish I could install on my laptop).
I don't usually post in threads like this, but I wanted to quote a line from the end user license agreement, the long document that you agree to abide by when installing Windows 10.
"We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, included your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to."
This states they will access your files in good faith... they also state in another part regarding copyright infringement of microsoft products AKA activators, that they will refer to the authorities rather than deal with the issue themselves. I don't want to sound like a scaredy cat, but since this OS is equipped to spy on your files and most likely able to find out if you had illegally activated (potentially through checksum comparisons of key system files), It's worth pointing out how bad this "good faith" is.
It also makes clear sense why the OS is offered as a free upgrade:
- They want to entice every possible user in the world to upgrade to it
- They want to collect info and statistics for the ultimate spy fest and advertisement campaign
- They will sell the info to 3rd parties and make millions off our data and usage
My thinking behind this is the following: They may provide settings that can be disabled, they might provide services that can be disabled, and there might be registry tweaks to perform along with other measures to cut down on the invasive privacy approach. However, since this is in the agreement, it makes it seem harder to disable or in fact not possible to disable. Since the OS is closed source, we will never know if the whole system is hooked with backdoors and security holes leading right back to MS as they claim, even after going through the extensive process of disabling those known features. And since we will never know, I doubt I will ever use Windows 10 or future versions of Windows while they take this approach.
Totally crystal clear
Terrible example. One should actually read the lines instead of between them someday, and that image actually makes zero sense when you think about what they actually do. A lot of the options do exactly what they say, and these data collection is required for the features to work as expected. Or they wouldn't be there, you know? (I cringe a bit every time someone relinks that image, because it's extremely biased against Microsoft without adequate justification.)
Lovely Ben Franklin quote right there. Though, I always remembered it as, "Those who sacrifice guaranteed liberty for promised security deserve neither." I'm sure Microsoft is happy to tell us how good a job it's doing with all of our information :P
Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realise you worked for Microsoft and knew exactly what they were doing because you've seen the source code.
Oh wait, you don't. So you can't know. We're not biased against Microsoft; we just have standards that their proprietary software does not even come close to meeting. "Reading between the lines" shows exactly what they're capable of. The irrefutable fact is that they have backdoors in Windows that you can't disable. You just have to trust that they're using it like they say they are.
Sure you can disable the keylogger, and all the other privacy invasions, but what about the stuff that you can't?
Feel free free to be part of the botnet all you want, but don't tell other users it's safe and private - it's not and no amount of deflection is going to change that.
Also why do I have to change my SSID to end with "_optout". How am I supposed to have an SSID that ends in both "_nomap" and "_optout".
Yeah, I've never really been the kind of guy to support privacy invasion, or consumer ignorance either.
Twiggy, I hope you realize that by saying such-and-such anti-privacy thing "goes back to [Windows OS before 10]" you're creating a snowball effect that worsens your argument. Just letting you know.
Lovely Ben Franklin quote right there. Though, I always remembered it as, "Those who sacrifice guaranteed liberty for promised security deserve neither." I'm sure Microsoft is happy to tell us how good a job it's doing with all of our information :P
I want to use it, but the key already occupied on my computer before the rollback.
You can't say that, unless of course you work for the NSA and feel like joining Snowden with their league of whistleblowers who spoil their secrets. Also, Snowden's documents reveal a lot about how much they in fact do care about your random average citizen, but of course you've never read them so you're just talking nonsense about that.Sorry for dragging an old topic through the mud but...
If that's the case, and you think that companies invading your privacy is that big of a concern, you might as well also stop using your Android and iOS devices, as well as stop using e-mail, Facebook, or anything else that's online. Heck, you might as well completely abandon your entire online life as you know it and go back to the 80s when this wasn't as commonplace (That even includes tossing your fancy smartphones away and getting a more basic flip phone or Nokia if any carriers still allow them). Even move off the grid so that bills and payments cannot be traced back to you. Go cash-only, do under-the-table jobs. That way you don't have to file a tax report every April. Many other companies have been doing it for years (And the sad part is that a lot of people that talk about this stuff use sites like Facebook, which actually probably hand out more information than MS would!!!). The fact that MS is doing it (Some of it is for legit reasons as stated in the article Twiggy linked - for actually enhancing the user experience) doesn't mean that it's bad, it's that they're last to the punch with something that everyone else is already doing. Besides, why are you so concerned over privacy? You should only be super-concerned if you have something to hide. Otherwise, the NSA and all those government programs couldn't give two shits about a random citizen that browses Facebook and plays Farmville all day.
You can't "have nothing to hide" without knowing what they're looking for, lol. Basic logic says that much. The fact of the matter is you don't even know who these "third parties" are so you have no safety with your information whatsoever.In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with Windows 10. A lot of the stuff I don't like I've disabled. I do value my privacy with intimate details, but I have nothing to hide. The people that are warning users of these "privacy invasions" are the kind of people that wear tinfoil hats all the time, they think that they're constantly being spied on and stuff like that.
Bullshit. Try installing Linux and reading about the definition of "free software." If you're wondering, it's simply software that you control, not vice versa.tl;dr: There's no 100% safe OS that won't track you or capture anything you say.
Tor much? How on Earth do you think Edward Snowden succeeded in exposing the mass spying network the National Security Agency set up if this absurd proposition that "you can never be safe" was true?There may be extensions that can block cookies, but anything that is put on the internet can somehow be traced back to you. You are never safe and never will be. If you truly want to have everything private, you would be best off moving off the grid and living off the land or doing cash-only jobs under a false name.
[/2¢]
You can't say that, unless of course you work for the NSA and feel like joining Snowden with their league of whistleblowers who spoil their secrets. Also, Snowden's documents reveal a lot about how much they in fact do care about your random average citizen, but of course you've never read them so you're just talking nonsense about that.
I laughed a little at your proposition. You can't justify taking it lying down by saying we have to take it to begin with. "Don't give in without a fight." I highly suspect that if people actually cared about their privacy this wouldn't be happening.