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I've rarely ever seen any discussion of Windows Telemetry actually discuss how it violates their privacy. Is it not possible that the telemetry exists only to

I've rarely ever seen any discussion of Windows Telemetry actually discuss how it violates their privacy. Is it not possible that the telemetry exists only to collect data on how to improve software? Do we know it's being used for advertising?

johannes1234321 5y ago
There are other risks than advertising/privacy. They can for instance analyse what applications from other vendors are frequently used and build in alternatives.
rovr138 5y ago
Do we know it’s not? Is it illegal for them to switch to using it for advertising in the future? What I know is that they collect huge amounts of data and we don’t have protections on how that can be used.
- bogwog 5y ago
  And what that means is that it comes down to trust. And anyone who trusts Microsoft (or any of the tech giants) is naive or uninformed/ignorant.
wintermutestwin 5y ago
It has become quite clear that user data is the goldrush that the majority of the world's biggest tech companies are feverishly mining. Whether they sell it today (advertising) or not is the smallest concern compared to a myriad of society-harming ways that it could be used in the future. A company like MS could sit on your data for a decade and then decide that can get away with far more data abuse than they could today. It seems like a good bet that the ways that our data can be used will continue to expand. We probably can just watch the tea leaves of China to see what our data use future looks like. How long will it be until we have a social credit system like China's? >actually discuss how it violates their privacy The privacy violation is the collection itself.
criddell 5y ago
Unwanted surveillance is itself something that many of us object to. For example, I run uBlock Origin to reduce tracking, not because I think ads are evil.
Bancakes 5y ago
If you want your software improved, open source it, and people will post gitlab issues. We all saw what happened with MS Calculator. It was a successful experiment.
- p_j_w 5y ago
  They will never do this in areas where that would threaten their vendor lock-in.
tomjen3 5y ago
Even if that was the case, and that there was no way to use the data to harm me, and it wouldn't be used to make a bland user experience, why take the risk?
GekkePrutser 5y ago
Personally I don't care what it's used for. I just don't want it :)

johannes1234321 5y ago

There are other risks than advertising/privacy. They can for instance analyse what applications from other vendors are frequently used and build in alternatives.

rovr138 5y ago

Do we know it’s not? Is it illegal for them to switch to using it for advertising in the future? What I know is that they collect huge amounts of data and we don’t have protections on how that can be used.

bogwog 5y ago
And what that means is that it comes down to trust. And anyone who trusts Microsoft (or any of the tech giants) is naive or uninformed/ignorant.

wintermutestwin 5y ago

It has become quite clear that user data is the goldrush that the majority of the world's biggest tech companies are feverishly mining. Whether they sell it today (advertising) or not is the smallest concern compared to a myriad of society-harming ways that it could be used in the future. A company like MS could sit on your data for a decade and then decide that can get away with far more data abuse than they could today. It seems like a good bet that the ways that our data can be used will continue to expand. We probably can just watch the tea leaves of China to see what our data use future looks like. How long will it be until we have a social credit system like China's? >actually discuss how it violates their privacy The privacy violation is the collection itself.

criddell 5y ago

Unwanted surveillance is itself something that many of us object to. For example, I run uBlock Origin to reduce tracking, not because I think ads are evil.

Bancakes 5y ago

If you want your software improved, open source it, and people will post gitlab issues. We all saw what happened with MS Calculator. It was a successful experiment.

p_j_w 5y ago
They will never do this in areas where that would threaten their vendor lock-in.

tomjen3 5y ago

Even if that was the case, and that there was no way to use the data to harm me, and it wouldn't be used to make a bland user experience, why take the risk?

GekkePrutser 5y ago

Personally I don't care what it's used for. I just don't want it :)