Windows 10's Privacy Policy Is The New Normal

All you people going on about how they download information I bet you use Google or Apple products guess what, they already do that and they sell off your information and have been doing so for years now. Microsoft use it to better their operating system and you can turn things off. Out of the top 3 Microsoft Google Apple I true Microsoft the most.

Time to get over yourself and realize that if you are connected to the internet nothing is private.
 
Oh and lets not forget all the social media sites.... everyone is fine to put all their person information there with out whinge about it.

Its like people will find anything they can hold on to whinge about it.
 
Unfortunately, Windows is still the platform for PC gaming - especially with the introduction of DirectX 12.
I know that Linux advocates boast about how many titles there are on Steam now, but most of the big new releases that I actually want to play still come to Windows first, if not exclusively.

I haven't upgraded to Windows 10 yet (mainly due to NVIDIA driver issues) and I'm not sure that I will now.
I also don't use any form of social media or smartphones, so I don't agree with this "oh well it's the new normal" or "it's just one more thing" attitude that some people have.

What I will probably end up doing is, rather than upgrading my existing PC in the next year or so as I had planned to, I will pay a bit more and build a completely new system which is exclusively used for gaming.
I don't use Steam for communication, so the only thing Microsoft will be able to datamine will be a whole lot of WASD inputs.
For my "personal" rig, I guess I'll be moving to Linux.

It's disappointing that there seems to be so little outcry about this.
Most of the articles I've read are basically along the lines of "be aware that Microsoft is datamining everything you do in Windows 10... now let's talk about how great Windows 10 is!"
If this had been restricted to the "home" versions of Windows 10, I would be less concerned. But home and pro licenses are affected - the only way to disable it all is to be running an enterprise edition.
 
zone74 said:
It's disappointing that there seems to be so little outcry about this.
Most of the articles I've read are basically along the lines of "be aware that Microsoft is datamining everything you do in Windows 10... now let's talk about how great Windows 10 is!"
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And any site that would be complaining about this is full of tracking ads. Just about every aspect of the consumer IT economy is full of this stuff. Even if one doesn't use this stuff directly, blocks all ads, runs Linux, they're still gaining benefit from the use of things that are funded this way. People want more and more stuff for less and less money. And they seem to be perfectly willing to give up some privacy for the trade off.

zone74 said:
If this had been restricted to the "home" versions of Windows 10, I would be less concerned. But home and pro licenses are affected - the only way to disable it all is to be running an enterprise edition.
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All of this can be turned off with on a domain connected client. Even the Enterprise version doesn't directly support turning off everything if it's not connected to a domain.
 
Freebo said:
All you people going on about how they download information I bet you use Google or Apple products guess what, they already do that and they sell off your information and have been doing so for years now. Microsoft use it to better their operating system and you can turn things off. Out of the top 3 Microsoft Google Apple I true Microsoft the most.

Time to get over yourself and realize that if you are connected to the internet nothing is private.
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Screen-Shot-2013-02-07-at-12.13.20-PM.png


Don't get 'scroogled,' but don't mind us snooping on everything you do. We're the good guys. We promise. We're so trustworthy we've decided to go ahead and turn off your ability to opt out. :rolleyes:

Granted, Microsoft is so dysfunctional I doubt they'll be able to use the information effectively anyhow. It might become an issue if/when the company falls apart and all your data gets sold though.
 
All you need is to wait for someone to release a "white noise" app. It will spam clicks and keystrokes and you can set it for nocturnal hours.
 
jtm55 said:
Hi All

If you are online, I'd say in some way be it email client Google or Facebook, Twitter etc. your info is being mined.
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I don't use Facebook or Twitter and there are tools to thwart most data mining on the web but when it is embedded in the OS you can't stop it so easy.
 
DPI said:
for the hundredth time, my PC is not a tablet. My PC is not a phone. Two wrongs don't make a right. Windows used to be a safe haven from the bullshit. Now only Windows 7 remains so.
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Never said it was right or ok, just that people freaking out over it is laughable, as it is already in place all over, in just about every part of our life, in many places people don't know about. Even on Android and Apple many parts can be opted out of, just like on W10. Willing to bet 90% of the people crying over this have a FB page that they freely publish all sorts of personal information to not just marketing, but the world as a whole.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Willing to bet 90% of the people crying over this have a FB page that they freely publish all sorts of personal information to not just marketing, but the world as a whole.
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Yes cuz all of us on this enthusiast computer hardware forum don't root their android phone and put a custom rom on it, don't have per-app permissions via xprivacy, don't meticulously create firewall permissions for all the programs on their pc, don't make separate accounts on each forum/social media site with false information, and don't have simply keep their private lives off said social media; we're all just a bunch of idiots that don't do any of that stuff cuz we just recently started complaining about privacy concerns. :rolleyes:
 
lilbabycat said:
Yes cuz all of us on this enthusiast computer hardware forum don't root their android phone and put a custom rom on it, don't have per-app permissions via xprivacy, don't meticulously create firewall permissions for all the programs on their pc, don't make separate accounts on each forum/social media site with false information, and don't have simply keep their private lives off said social media; we're all just a bunch of idiots that don't do any of that stuff cuz we just recently started complaining about privacy concerns. :rolleyes:
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And yet I still stand on the fact 90% of people who have jumped on this bandwagon are not part of this. Matter of fact, willing to bet 90% of the traffic through here do not bother with most of what you listed either. Having met allot of "enthusiasts" from forums and in person, I would put a whole paycheck on the fact most of them would not even know what you are talking about.

And again, never said there should not be privacy concerns, only stating an observation of people jumping on the hate bandwagon for MS. Open your eyes. :rolleyes:
 
rezerekted said:
Not really, the government doesn't like it when people go off the grid.
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Indeed they do not...

If you are not willingly giving away all your personal information, like the masses now do, you become ...very... suspicious...
 
It's somewhat ironic that as I'm posting this message I'm watching a pilot episode of a new show called "Minority Report" which is of course based on the 2002 Tom Cruise movie of the same name - the movie was awesome, the TV show, not even in the ballpark but that's how it goes.

The ironic aspect is that just a few moments before I checked in on this thread there was a scene where a private security controller is approached by a Detective working for the police department in a matter where a public official could be (because it's a potential future event) assassinated. The controller is sitting at one of those super-duper futuristic displays like we saw in the original movie and he says the following line of dialogue: "We run a constant passive search on social media, city surveillance, even purchase patterns."

Now, in today's world this means something different, of course, just like when the original movie came out 13 years ago we (meaning society at that time in 2002) were watching the film maker's vision of what might happen at a point in the future (stay with me here) when there realistically is no privacy that matters anymore: retinal scans done pretty much everywhere in society constantly allow for tracking in ways that even modern smartphones can't even begin to compare with. In the original movie there's the scene where Tom Cruise's character - shortly after having his eyes replacement, completely - steps into a Gap store (apparently they still exist in the near future, at least in the movie) and not 10 feet inside the door he gets a retinal scan which then causes an automated response system to greet him: "Hello, Mr. Yakamoto! Welcome back to the Gap!"

Of course that being funny enough in the movie is one thing since we know the character's name is actually John Anderton, but the really insidious part comes next when the automated system asks: "How'd those assorted tank tops work out for you?"

Scary stuff, taken to the absolute extremes - some will argue that it's perfectly legit for such a company to maintain a database of customer purchases for their own reasons, but realistically it's not a very good thing.

Anyway, just thought it was pretty funny and quite ironic considering what's coming in the future and what's happening right now with Windows 10 and this whole privacy thing pushing the limits.

Unfortunately, as I've stated before, the masses are merely sheep and just can't click that button fast enough. We're turning into a tl;dr society entirely too fast for my taste.

Pic related, and if you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend you check it out sometime.

 
zone74 said:
It's disappointing that there seems to be so little outcry about this.
Most of the articles I've read are basically along the lines of "be aware that Microsoft is datamining everything you do in Windows 10... now let's talk about how great Windows 10 is!"
Click to expand...
I can't explain it. Other than an industry journalists trying to protect their own industry. Or they think that MS's profits somehow trickle down to them. They couldn't be more wrong.

Also, their livelihood is advertising based so they don't want to question their own methods of enhancing their advertising revenue.

The one other thought that crossed my mind is the narrative is that Nadella is Microsoft's salvation and no one wants to rock the narrative.
 
I am shocked at how informed many here are. If you use any website or any phone app you are certainly having telemetry data monitored. Applications suites like Application Insights work with iOS, Android, Windows, Web, etc... none of the app stores require that you tell the user you are "monitoring their app usage" -- you only have to tell the user that the app uses the internet.

Facebook for a while (they probably still do) would record what you typed into a textbox while you were writing (didn't matter if you hit submit or not).

Is this telemetry data evil? It can be. But it does also improve apps greatly and help squash bugs.

Unless you are a hardcore Linux user that compiles his own apps and actually inspects the open source prior to compiling, I would assume 99% of software tries to gather telemetry on how you use the app -- this website and every other website is also gathering telemetry data on you.
 
lilbabycat said:
Yes cuz all of us on this enthusiast computer hardware forum don't root their android phone and put a custom rom on it, don't have per-app permissions via xprivacy, don't meticulously create firewall permissions for all the programs on their pc, don't make separate accounts on each forum/social media site with false information, and don't have simply keep their private lives off said social media; we're all just a bunch of idiots that don't do any of that stuff cuz we just recently started complaining about privacy concerns. :rolleyes:
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Unless you are blocking your android apps from using the internet they are gathering telemetry data on you and they can record everything you click, type in, etc... into the app as long as the app has access to the internet.
 
rezerekted said:
I don't use Facebook or Twitter and there are tools to thwart most data mining on the web but when it is embedded in the OS you can't stop it so easy.
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Hi All

I don't use Facebook or Twitter either. But I am online. Point being if you go online there's a good chance your information is being mined in some way form or fashion. That's all I was trying to say
 
Gunnerwolf said:
Unless you are blocking your android apps from using the internet they are gathering telemetry data on you and they can record everything you click, type in, etc... into the app as long as the app has access to the internet.
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xprivacy does that, its pretty awesome (and probably why google killed it). Some stuff you have to let through, but you can cut down on what access they have pretty damn well. As well it has options for putting in fake data when the app won't run without it.
 
Tiberian said:
It's somewhat ironic that as I'm posting this message I'm watching a pilot episode of a new show called "Minority Report" which is of course based on the 2002 Tom Cruise movie of the same name - the movie was awesome, the TV show, not even in the ballpark but that's how it goes.
Click to expand...

It may have seemed far fetched at over time, but with the huge amounts of data being collected, once an algorithm probably based on FMRI research is established I do not see pre-crime (or pre-anything for that matter) being that far off IMO. Profiling to the next level.
 
It's funny how much attention this is getting now. Google has been operating for quite some time with much worse collection policies.
 
lilbabycat said:
xprivacy does that, its pretty awesome (and probably why google killed it). Some stuff you have to let through, but you can cut down on what access they have pretty damn well. As well it has options for putting in fake data when the app won't run without it.
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't think xprivacy does that. xprivacy will prevent an app from accessing additional system info.

However, unless you block an app from internet access -- the app will gather telemetry data on how you use the specific app. It might not know your location, etc... but it will get plenty of additional information about how you are using the app. Application Insights (and tools like it) live in the app. They don't access system permissions to gather telemetry data because it is just the app. As long as the app can talk to the internet, it can provide the app company with info about anything you do within the app.

So your best bet would be use something like xprivacy to prevent the app from accessing the internet. That would prevent telemetry data. However, that also means it would brake most apps out there.
 
DPI said:
Facebook and Google datamining ends when I close the window on Google and Facebook. In Windows 10 it's engrained in the DNA of the OS - a paid OS, one my friend just paid $200 for on a gaming rig since he had no previous licenses to upgrade - and there is no escaping it, even if you toggle off the few "privacy" settings they actually expose.

Surely you can understand the difference, this really isn't a hard think concept.
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If you're running Android the data mining is constant.
If you use the Facebook app on Android and don't close all of its processes when you close the window it also keep collecting and sending data.
If you install Chrome on Windows it installs background processes that are very hard to kill that remain open and active when the browser is not.
If you use Google fiber as an ISP it doesn't matter what OS you use, they've tapped the pipe.
 
The privacy settings are configurable. If you don't trust the settings or are afraid of a ninja update, what makes you feel safe on 7?

They offered 10 for free because they knew 95% of upgrades wouldn't disable it so they could make their money back. If you disable it, no reason not to upgrade unless you hate the UI.
 
Might be a wise choice for Windows 10 users on here to run a VM of *NIX for anything or uses which Windows might otherwise pick up on.
Quite the sad state of affairs, but DX12 is a welcome improvement.
 
How much do you want to bet that law enforcement are behind some of these new backdoors? They cut back on detective budgets so they use companies as pawns to do the work they used to.
 
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