4 ms·

People will look fondly to the times when they thought Microsoft's telemetry was the worst privacy issue to hit them...

fartcannon 8y ago
Microsoft has not stopped spying, even now. They will likely be emboldened by their competitors exposure. Slowly boiling us all.
- close04 8y ago
  Nice way of missing the point. I don't expect MS will ever stop. There's no incentive, people already proved that there's no treatment so bad that they will put their foot down and demand a change. Google opened the way for collecting massive amounts of data by any means possible (including and not limited to tricking the user into thinking they aren't). And people seem pretty at ease with this, comparatively few are as angered by the revelations these days as they were about MS's relatively harmless telemetry. So going back, at some point you'll miss the times when you thought MS collecting data about your hardware and drivers was "the evilest evil".
  - fartcannon 8y ago
    It might just be me, but I believe most people thought Google was a worse violator prior to Windows 10. Some (probably naive) people used to think Windows was the last bastion of non-Linux hope.
    - close04 8y ago
      Not really. MS has (had) a very crappy image that they worked really hard to build during the early 2000s. That reputation stuck. And it doesn't help that most people are ignorant and are always willing to ignore an informed opinion over one that sounds cool. MS and Windows 10 are still far behind Google in the data collection game. Especially since they put that privacy wizard front and center at the first setup. But as I said, every second you spend defending Google and throwing shade at MS because it feels like the cool thing to do, Google adds another data collection item in their policy, hides yet another setting under 5 layers of options, and tricks you again into thinking that toggling a switch to off actually disables it. It's not like they did exactly that for 10 years now to the point where they are by far the largest private data collection effort in the history of man kind. And yes, I'm sure MS will follow suit. Why not? Google seems to be doing just fine.
      - fartcannon 8y ago
        You don't need to convince me! I think Microsoft is just as evil as Google and vice versa! Microsoft did their best to ruin personal computers and Google continues to try to ruin cell phones. Luckily, in both cases, free/open source software exists to fix both PC's and (some) cellphones!
  - bitmapbrother 8y ago
    It would seem that you're the one missing the point. Microsoft was the very first company to sign up with the NSA way back in 2007. So when it comes to the mass collection of user data and spying - Microsoft is a pioneer in the field.
fauigerzigerk 8y ago
I think you are mistaken. Take a look at the privacy settings in your Microsoft account, specifically the activity history. They collect very much the same stuff that Google does, only Google lets you disable the data collection and Microsoft doesn't.
- close04 8y ago
  I am reasonably sure this is not the case, especially since every piece of evidence, article, and comparative study points at Google as being by far the worst offender on the data collection and privacy topics. If you have an Android phone you'd better give up on the idea that you can really "disable" the data collection. Windows on the PC gives me clear options immediately after installation to disable all that and what's left is the "basic" telemetry, which is very light data collection according to today's standards. At least there's nothing personal there. Also I can very well use the PC without a MS account (so far). On the mobile side... Is MS still into that? Myself along with probably 5 other people do have a Windows 10 mobile phone but again, the privacy wizard apparently did a great job to disable most of the collection of data. And when I go to Settings > Privacy > Location and I disable it it's disabled. But yeah, this is the kind of ignorant BS that got all of us here in the first place. As long as there's a critical mass of ignorance on the market the likes of Google know they'll always have someone to sell to so they shove this down everyone's throat. MS makes money by selling you the products. Google gives you everything for free. Not raising any flags?
  - fauigerzigerk 8y ago
    Please go to https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/activity-history https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/activity-history and see for yourself. You can delete your activity history (including your search history) but you cannot disable the data collection as you can in your Google account. >MS makes money by selling you the products. Google gives you everything for free. Not raising any flags? Microsoft makes money in all sorts of ways, among them free and ad funded services like Bing, Skype or LinkedIn. But yes it does raise flags. That's why - as a paying Office 365 (for Mac) subscriber - I was expecting to have more control over data collection than as a user of ad funded services, not less.
trumped 8y ago
Microsoft used to be better then the worst (about 10 years ago)... Now they are just as bad because they learnt from the "best".
bitmapbrother 8y ago
What fucked up world do you live in in which people will look back fondly on Microsoft for doing the following? 1) Harvesting massive amounts of data from their users computers. 2) Harvesting massive amounts of data from their search engine and ad business. 3) Allowing the Chinese government to harvest all of their users data on their Chinese state run data centers.

Microsoft has not stopped spying, even now. They will likely be emboldened by their competitors exposure. Slowly boiling us all.

close04 8y ago
Nice way of missing the point. I don't expect MS will ever stop. There's no incentive, people already proved that there's no treatment so bad that they will put their foot down and demand a change. Google opened the way for collecting massive amounts of data by any means possible (including and not limited to tricking the user into thinking they aren't). And people seem pretty at ease with this, comparatively few are as angered by the revelations these days as they were about MS's relatively harmless telemetry. So going back, at some point you'll miss the times when you thought MS collecting data about your hardware and drivers was "the evilest evil".
- fartcannon 8y ago
  It might just be me, but I believe most people thought Google was a worse violator prior to Windows 10. Some (probably naive) people used to think Windows was the last bastion of non-Linux hope.
  - close04 8y ago
    Not really. MS has (had) a very crappy image that they worked really hard to build during the early 2000s. That reputation stuck. And it doesn't help that most people are ignorant and are always willing to ignore an informed opinion over one that sounds cool. MS and Windows 10 are still far behind Google in the data collection game. Especially since they put that privacy wizard front and center at the first setup. But as I said, every second you spend defending Google and throwing shade at MS because it feels like the cool thing to do, Google adds another data collection item in their policy, hides yet another setting under 5 layers of options, and tricks you again into thinking that toggling a switch to off actually disables it. It's not like they did exactly that for 10 years now to the point where they are by far the largest private data collection effort in the history of man kind. And yes, I'm sure MS will follow suit. Why not? Google seems to be doing just fine.
    - fartcannon 8y ago
      You don't need to convince me! I think Microsoft is just as evil as Google and vice versa! Microsoft did their best to ruin personal computers and Google continues to try to ruin cell phones. Luckily, in both cases, free/open source software exists to fix both PC's and (some) cellphones!
- bitmapbrother 8y ago
  It would seem that you're the one missing the point. Microsoft was the very first company to sign up with the NSA way back in 2007. So when it comes to the mass collection of user data and spying - Microsoft is a pioneer in the field.

fauigerzigerk 8y ago

I think you are mistaken. Take a look at the privacy settings in your Microsoft account, specifically the activity history. They collect very much the same stuff that Google does, only Google lets you disable the data collection and Microsoft doesn't.

close04 8y ago
I am reasonably sure this is not the case, especially since every piece of evidence, article, and comparative study points at Google as being by far the worst offender on the data collection and privacy topics. If you have an Android phone you'd better give up on the idea that you can really "disable" the data collection. Windows on the PC gives me clear options immediately after installation to disable all that and what's left is the "basic" telemetry, which is very light data collection according to today's standards. At least there's nothing personal there. Also I can very well use the PC without a MS account (so far). On the mobile side... Is MS still into that? Myself along with probably 5 other people do have a Windows 10 mobile phone but again, the privacy wizard apparently did a great job to disable most of the collection of data. And when I go to Settings > Privacy > Location and I disable it it's disabled. But yeah, this is the kind of ignorant BS that got all of us here in the first place. As long as there's a critical mass of ignorance on the market the likes of Google know they'll always have someone to sell to so they shove this down everyone's throat. MS makes money by selling you the products. Google gives you everything for free. Not raising any flags?
- fauigerzigerk 8y ago
  Please go to https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/activity-history https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/activity-history and see for yourself. You can delete your activity history (including your search history) but you cannot disable the data collection as you can in your Google account. >MS makes money by selling you the products. Google gives you everything for free. Not raising any flags? Microsoft makes money in all sorts of ways, among them free and ad funded services like Bing, Skype or LinkedIn. But yes it does raise flags. That's why - as a paying Office 365 (for Mac) subscriber - I was expecting to have more control over data collection than as a user of ad funded services, not less.

trumped 8y ago

Microsoft used to be better then the worst (about 10 years ago)... Now they are just as bad because they learnt from the "best".

bitmapbrother 8y ago

What fucked up world do you live in in which people will look back fondly on Microsoft for doing the following? 1) Harvesting massive amounts of data from their users computers. 2) Harvesting massive amounts of data from their search engine and ad business. 3) Allowing the Chinese government to harvest all of their users data on their Chinese state run data centers.