4 ms·

It is a little unsettling when you read these policies. This is probably for Cortana. She has to understand and process your voice commands, learn your nicknam

by arien 11y ago

It is a little unsettling when you read these policies. This is probably for Cortana. She has to understand and process your voice commands, learn your nickname and preferences to be effective. She already works in Windows Phone (very nicely), and I don't think a little phone processor would be enough to power her up. In fact, she doesn't work without an internet connection, at least in WP. What happens is that she takes the information you input to the cloud, processes it there with more than enough horsepower to do her stuff and brings it back to you. I suppose this is how it'll work as well on PCs. So for all this to work, yes they need to collect our data. Face it, with any smart assistant that we want it's going to be the same, they're all cloud powered. Doesn't Siri also require a internet connection? Probably Alexa too, and any others work exactly the same. It is a necessary evil to have a useful virtual assistant. Although if we don't want her we can opt out of the MSA account, as someone posted in the comments. Unsure if that removes all the privacy concerns, that would be useful to know. On Windows Phone it did (you can opt out of sending data to MS and Cortana is disabled).

arihant 11y ago
On Windows 10 you can opt-out as well. In fact, using Microsoft account is an opt-in while installing. You can just make a local account and certain features would be off by default. If you try to access them it will remind you that you need an MS account to access them. The fundamental problem with this privacy policy is the scary wording. When Gmail first came out, Google was (probably) the first company to read emails to figure out ads. But they enforced the not-touched-by-human-handsiness claim hard throughout. MS, on the other hand, not only says it will collect data but again and again mentions "disclose when necessary." There are too many uses of "disclose." It almost sounds like they will just hand over data without much conviction.
- arien 11y ago
  I went to the Privacy statement [0], to the "Reasons we share your data" (click on Learn More) and it does not sound scary at all (it' pretty much the same as any internet company that holds customer data). It's very clearly worded and I know exactly how/why my data will be used, so I can decide if I want to go ahead or if I don't. [0] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.asp... There's also a Data Retention section further down that specifies how long your data is in their servers. edit: In the top section (Personal Data we collect) it also says: "You have choices about the data we collect. When you are asked to provide personal data, you may decline. But if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide a service, you may not be able to use some features or services."
- irq-1 11y ago
  > On Windows 10 you can opt-out as well. Few IT departments will allow opting-out -- it'll be part of how your work computer is setup, and part of your job to use it.
  - unprepare 11y ago
    Surely those same IT departments expect you to keep your personal data on your personal machine :)
nothisissparta 11y ago
Just for the record, this article seriously paraphrases the shit out of an actually very specific part of the ToS. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.asp... "Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: 1.comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies; 2.protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; 3.operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or 4.protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services - however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement."
- anonbanker 11y ago
  Created a new account just to say this?
bsilvereagle 11y ago
> Face it, with any smart assistant that we want it's going to be the same, they're all cloud powered. > It is a necessary evil to have a useful virtual assistant Not necessarily. With things like the Jasper Project [0], you can run your own personal assistant that decodes voice on your machine and doesn't use the cloud. Granted, Jasper doesn't fit in your pocket (yet). [0] http://jasperproject.github.io/ http://jasperproject.github.io/

by arien 11y ago

arihant 11y ago

On Windows 10 you can opt-out as well. In fact, using Microsoft account is an opt-in while installing. You can just make a local account and certain features would be off by default. If you try to access them it will remind you that you need an MS account to access them. The fundamental problem with this privacy policy is the scary wording. When Gmail first came out, Google was (probably) the first company to read emails to figure out ads. But they enforced the not-touched-by-human-handsiness claim hard throughout. MS, on the other hand, not only says it will collect data but again and again mentions "disclose when necessary." There are too many uses of "disclose." It almost sounds like they will just hand over data without much conviction.

arien 11y ago
I went to the Privacy statement [0], to the "Reasons we share your data" (click on Learn More) and it does not sound scary at all (it' pretty much the same as any internet company that holds customer data). It's very clearly worded and I know exactly how/why my data will be used, so I can decide if I want to go ahead or if I don't. [0] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.asp... There's also a Data Retention section further down that specifies how long your data is in their servers. edit: In the top section (Personal Data we collect) it also says: "You have choices about the data we collect. When you are asked to provide personal data, you may decline. But if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide a service, you may not be able to use some features or services."
irq-1 11y ago
> On Windows 10 you can opt-out as well. Few IT departments will allow opting-out -- it'll be part of how your work computer is setup, and part of your job to use it.
- unprepare 11y ago
  Surely those same IT departments expect you to keep your personal data on your personal machine :)

nothisissparta 11y ago

Just for the record, this article seriously paraphrases the shit out of an actually very specific part of the ToS. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.asp... "Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: 1.comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies; 2.protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; 3.operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or 4.protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services - however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement."

anonbanker 11y ago
Created a new account just to say this?

bsilvereagle 11y ago

> Face it, with any smart assistant that we want it's going to be the same, they're all cloud powered. > It is a necessary evil to have a useful virtual assistant Not necessarily. With things like the Jasper Project [0], you can run your own personal assistant that decodes voice on your machine and doesn't use the cloud. Granted, Jasper doesn't fit in your pocket (yet). [0] http://jasperproject.github.io/ http://jasperproject.github.io/