4 ms·

Your subjective opinion is noted, but I'm confused how someone with this read would ever be appeased. Sequence of events: 1. Microsoft ships an OS with signal

Your subjective opinion is noted, but I'm confused how someone with this read would ever be appeased. Sequence of events: 1. Microsoft ships an OS with signal collection roughly analagous to OSX. 2. Microsoft is raked over the coals for this. 3. Microsoft scales it back a bit. 4. People demand more. 5. Microsoft actually makes a UI and offers even more cutbacks, with less collection by default and a more thorough set up experience. 6. People claim this is a PR stunt. What the hell do you actually want other than a black hole to swallow the Redmond you learned to hate in high school? That ship has sailed. They're already gone.

hendersoon 10y ago
I want a way to completely opt-out. That's it. Is that so unreasonable?
- ksk 10y ago
  You can already do that. Just block their servers.
  - hendersoon 10y ago
    Yes, I do block it via a third-party program. The problem is that every major Windows update resets those settings, so I need to run that third-party program regularly. Blocking IPs could work, but then I'd need to stay on top of the current addresses, which they could (and probably do) change inside their CDN. What I want is for the switch that currently says "Basic, Enhanced, or Full Telemetry" to say "Security, Basic, Enhanced, or Full Telemetry". (Security setting essentially turns it off.) https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/configure-windows-telemetry-in-your-organization#security-level https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/con...
    - ksk 10y ago
      I wonder if you can delete the binaries that have the telemetry functionality.
  - frik 10y ago
    You can't. They whitelisted IPs and Domains in kernel mode part of Win10. Good luck, and I hope you carry a hardware firewall with your notebook.
    - hendersoon 10y ago
      Wow, is that right? I do block searchui.exe at the network level, and that works. Unless you block it, Win10 talks to MS with every local filesystem search, even with Cortana and web search integration disabled. Only telemetry and windows update is whitelisted in the kernel?
      - KirinDave 10y ago
        I couldn't find any corroborating evidence to back that claim up, for what it's worth. It's sort of true for the insider editions (but those are a semi-private beta program).
        hendersoon 10y ago
        I hadn't heard of that either. I think he was probably incorrect.
    - KirinDave 10y ago
      Not only can you, but people have done it. There are several available methods using native and non-native tools. The only people who cannot do so are people on the insider ring builds. When you sign up for those builds, you accept the telemetry as part of the agreement (which is not unprecedented at all).
- KirinDave 10y ago
  Reading TFA, it seems like that's about to happen. But when you do it you'll break voice control and they will not be doing it for 3rd party apps, which they can't negotiate on behalf of anyways. I don't really get why OS metadata is so disturbing but the fact that every other app and website you visit (including this one) is a blinking light of information with effectively no overarching privacy policy is overlooked. This website is run by people who fund companies that use data collection as a primary business model and early revenue driver. Why are you here if you don't support that?
  - hendersoon 10y ago
    You are incorrect. You can already set telemetry to "basic" on win10 Home and Pro. Basic telemetry still sends tons of info. What we want is "security" level, which is only allowed on Win10 Enterprise and Education.
kardos 10y ago
> Sequence of events: <snip> That's a charitable assessment. Microsoft does not get privacy points for reducing a privacy invading program, any more than an abusive person gets credit for abusing less often. A more realistic assessment is that this "telemetry" aims to normalize windows users to the idea that you don't have an expectation of privacy on your windows computer, that your windows computer regularly reports data back to Microsoft, and that you do not get to inspect what data is reported back. > What the hell do you actually want Opt-in "telemetry".

hendersoon 10y ago

I want a way to completely opt-out. That's it. Is that so unreasonable?

ksk 10y ago
You can already do that. Just block their servers.
- hendersoon 10y ago
  Yes, I do block it via a third-party program. The problem is that every major Windows update resets those settings, so I need to run that third-party program regularly. Blocking IPs could work, but then I'd need to stay on top of the current addresses, which they could (and probably do) change inside their CDN. What I want is for the switch that currently says "Basic, Enhanced, or Full Telemetry" to say "Security, Basic, Enhanced, or Full Telemetry". (Security setting essentially turns it off.) https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/configure-windows-telemetry-in-your-organization#security-level https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/con...
  - ksk 10y ago
    I wonder if you can delete the binaries that have the telemetry functionality.
- frik 10y ago
  You can't. They whitelisted IPs and Domains in kernel mode part of Win10. Good luck, and I hope you carry a hardware firewall with your notebook.
  - hendersoon 10y ago
    Wow, is that right? I do block searchui.exe at the network level, and that works. Unless you block it, Win10 talks to MS with every local filesystem search, even with Cortana and web search integration disabled. Only telemetry and windows update is whitelisted in the kernel?
    - KirinDave 10y ago
      I couldn't find any corroborating evidence to back that claim up, for what it's worth. It's sort of true for the insider editions (but those are a semi-private beta program).
      - hendersoon 10y ago
        I hadn't heard of that either. I think he was probably incorrect.
  - KirinDave 10y ago
    Not only can you, but people have done it. There are several available methods using native and non-native tools. The only people who cannot do so are people on the insider ring builds. When you sign up for those builds, you accept the telemetry as part of the agreement (which is not unprecedented at all).
KirinDave 10y ago
Reading TFA, it seems like that's about to happen. But when you do it you'll break voice control and they will not be doing it for 3rd party apps, which they can't negotiate on behalf of anyways. I don't really get why OS metadata is so disturbing but the fact that every other app and website you visit (including this one) is a blinking light of information with effectively no overarching privacy policy is overlooked. This website is run by people who fund companies that use data collection as a primary business model and early revenue driver. Why are you here if you don't support that?
- hendersoon 10y ago
  You are incorrect. You can already set telemetry to "basic" on win10 Home and Pro. Basic telemetry still sends tons of info. What we want is "security" level, which is only allowed on Win10 Enterprise and Education.

kardos 10y ago

> Sequence of events: <snip> That's a charitable assessment. Microsoft does not get privacy points for reducing a privacy invading program, any more than an abusive person gets credit for abusing less often. A more realistic assessment is that this "telemetry" aims to normalize windows users to the idea that you don't have an expectation of privacy on your windows computer, that your windows computer regularly reports data back to Microsoft, and that you do not get to inspect what data is reported back. > What the hell do you actually want Opt-in "telemetry".