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Microsoft: https://advertising.microsoft.com/home https://advertising.microsoft.com/home Amazon: https://advertising.amazon.ca/ https://advertising.amazon.ca/

Microsoft: https://advertising.microsoft.com/home https://advertising.microsoft.com/home Amazon: https://advertising.amazon.ca/ https://advertising.amazon.ca/ ... You are the product.

ironjunkie 9y ago
At least it is not central to their business. In other words, the company is not rotten to it's core.
- einr 9y ago
  They're rapidly heading down the path, at the very least. Microsoft has been giving away their operating system for free in exchange for mining your personal data. Everyone who uses Windows 10 can expect to have everything on screen scraped, all their keystrokes logged, and all their files transferred to Microsoft for analysis. What do you suppose their reason is for taking all this data?
  - AndrewUnmuted 9y ago
    > They're rapidly heading down the path, at the very least. Who is? Amazon? Not likely. Though I haven't worked there for several years now, I would be flabbergasted to discover that Bezos would approve an initiative that involved selling user data to advertisers. I can't speak to Microsoft. I am not a user of Microsoft's products, nor any of its subsidiaries' products, and they are not mining any data from me.
    - einr 9y ago
      Who is? Amazon? No, I was talking about Microsoft only. Sorry if that was unclear.
AndrewUnmuted 9y ago
With respect to the Amazon link you provided, did you watch the video? Amazon explicitly states that the ads provided are targeted based upon user action. So if you go to Amazon searching for music, they may show an ad on the side of the page that provides a discount offer for a specific band or artist. As far as I know, Amazon doesn't sell user data to anyone, even for advertising.
- lokedhs 9y ago
  Just because they don't sell access to the information doesn't mean they're not being evil. That company is likely the worst in terms of user tracking out of all the companies mentioned in these comments. After all, this is a company that tracks not only what books you read, but how far you've read it, how much time you spent reading every page and how many times you went back to previous pages. This is also the company who has microphones placed in people's houses, happily installed by the users themselves. Given the fact that so many people people trust them with so many things, and their desire to be a provider of every single service, they certainly are a much bigger privacy invader than even Google or Facebook.
decebalus1 9y ago
What exactly is that supposed to prove? Not a fan of any of the two companies but I believe you're being unfair. At least Microsoft[0] does not sell your personal information or build it's business around renting access to your personal information. There is a big difference between sharing data with advertisers and sharing data with company-controlled subsidiaries and vendors. Amazon is a little more permissive [1] but again, it does not sell your data. Both of them ask for your consent before sharing the data. So for example, if your friend/contact shares his data, the third party does not see your data (as opposed to what Facebook did). Posts such as yours reek of whataboutism (same as the Obama campaign narrative) and do more harm than good. The two companies have not built their business around personal data. The personal data in this case is a side-effect of selling an actual product/service which brings in the cash. If you mentioned Google, then that's a different thing. I find it interesting nobody is bringing up this book: https://www.amazon.com/When-Google-Wikileaks-Julian-Assange/dp/8189059661 https://www.amazon.com/When-Google-Wikileaks-Julian-Assange/... [0] https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468496#GUID-1B2BDAD4-7ACF-4D7A-8608-CBA6EA897FD3__SECTION_3DF674DAB5B7439FB2A9B4465BC3E0AC https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
- einr 9y ago
  At least Microsoft[0] does not sell your personal information or build it's business around renting access to your personal information. There is a big difference between sharing data with advertisers and sharing data with company-controlled subsidiaries and vendors. "We tell you about things we think you’ll like. For example, we may send you email to remind you about items left in your online shopping cart. We also display advertising in some services, and we’d prefer to show you ads you find interesting." https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-US/windows10privacy https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-US/windows10privacy Microsoft mines your behavioural patterns and activities on Windows, Bing etc and sells this information to advertisers.

Microsoft: https://advertising.microsoft.com/home https://advertising.microsoft.com/home Amazon: https://advertising.amazon.ca/ https://advertising.amazon.ca/ ... You are the product.

ironjunkie 9y ago

At least it is not central to their business. In other words, the company is not rotten to it's core.

einr 9y ago
They're rapidly heading down the path, at the very least. Microsoft has been giving away their operating system for free in exchange for mining your personal data. Everyone who uses Windows 10 can expect to have everything on screen scraped, all their keystrokes logged, and all their files transferred to Microsoft for analysis. What do you suppose their reason is for taking all this data?
- AndrewUnmuted 9y ago
  > They're rapidly heading down the path, at the very least. Who is? Amazon? Not likely. Though I haven't worked there for several years now, I would be flabbergasted to discover that Bezos would approve an initiative that involved selling user data to advertisers. I can't speak to Microsoft. I am not a user of Microsoft's products, nor any of its subsidiaries' products, and they are not mining any data from me.
  - einr 9y ago
    Who is? Amazon? No, I was talking about Microsoft only. Sorry if that was unclear.

AndrewUnmuted 9y ago

With respect to the Amazon link you provided, did you watch the video? Amazon explicitly states that the ads provided are targeted based upon user action. So if you go to Amazon searching for music, they may show an ad on the side of the page that provides a discount offer for a specific band or artist. As far as I know, Amazon doesn't sell user data to anyone, even for advertising.

lokedhs 9y ago
Just because they don't sell access to the information doesn't mean they're not being evil. That company is likely the worst in terms of user tracking out of all the companies mentioned in these comments. After all, this is a company that tracks not only what books you read, but how far you've read it, how much time you spent reading every page and how many times you went back to previous pages. This is also the company who has microphones placed in people's houses, happily installed by the users themselves. Given the fact that so many people people trust them with so many things, and their desire to be a provider of every single service, they certainly are a much bigger privacy invader than even Google or Facebook.

decebalus1 9y ago

What exactly is that supposed to prove? Not a fan of any of the two companies but I believe you're being unfair. At least Microsoft[0] does not sell your personal information or build it's business around renting access to your personal information. There is a big difference between sharing data with advertisers and sharing data with company-controlled subsidiaries and vendors. Amazon is a little more permissive [1] but again, it does not sell your data. Both of them ask for your consent before sharing the data. So for example, if your friend/contact shares his data, the third party does not see your data (as opposed to what Facebook did). Posts such as yours reek of whataboutism (same as the Obama campaign narrative) and do more harm than good. The two companies have not built their business around personal data. The personal data in this case is a side-effect of selling an actual product/service which brings in the cash. If you mentioned Google, then that's a different thing. I find it interesting nobody is bringing up this book: https://www.amazon.com/When-Google-Wikileaks-Julian-Assange/dp/8189059661 https://www.amazon.com/When-Google-Wikileaks-Julian-Assange/... [0] https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468496#GUID-1B2BDAD4-7ACF-4D7A-8608-CBA6EA897FD3__SECTION_3DF674DAB5B7439FB2A9B4465BC3E0AC https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

einr 9y ago
At least Microsoft[0] does not sell your personal information or build it's business around renting access to your personal information. There is a big difference between sharing data with advertisers and sharing data with company-controlled subsidiaries and vendors. "We tell you about things we think you’ll like. For example, we may send you email to remind you about items left in your online shopping cart. We also display advertising in some services, and we’d prefer to show you ads you find interesting." https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-US/windows10privacy https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-US/windows10privacy Microsoft mines your behavioural patterns and activities on Windows, Bing etc and sells this information to advertisers.