5 ms·

Have you run into any articles that detail exactly what is captured and sent off of your computer? Has Microsoft release more than just a little bit of informat

by jerrac 11y ago

Have you run into any articles that detail exactly what is captured and sent off of your computer? Has Microsoft release more than just a little bit of information on what they use that info for? Not just what the setting screen and privacy policy say.

jlgaddis 11y ago
It will be impossible to know and/or verify what they're actually sending. Even if they told us exactly what the data contains, though, who will believe them? Besides, we already know what they'll say: they'll use it for debugging and troubleshooting, to make the products better, and to enhance your user experience. In certain circumstances, they may share the data -- but only with their trusted partners, of course. In no way, however, will they use it for anything "evil".
- ams6110 11y ago
  For that matter, it's really just a matter of faith that the settings completely disable the sending of this information (or disable it at all).
  - jerrac 11y ago
    Yep. Sadly, the only way to be one hundred percent sure your data is private is to keep it in your head. Even building your own chipsets and other components doesn't protect from physical access. So we have to choose who to trust. Currently, that's not Microsoft. If they open sourced, or at least made the code visible, Windows, I'd be a lot happier. 'Course, then I'd have to trust that the people reviewing the code knew what they were doing. Since I'd not spend the time to review the code myself....
- jerrac 11y ago
  I don't think it's impossible. Can't you intercept the traffic via a router or something to see what's in it? "...what they'll say..." They already said that in their privacy policy. I was wondering if they had released more details. Like "We record your voice commands and add them to a database of millions of other people making the same command so Cortana can understand people better." And, "Our voice interpretation service is provided by a trusted partner. They signed a contract that requires they take this step and this step to keep your data secure."
  - jlgaddis 11y ago
    Well, hopefully they learned something from the NSA documents and are at least encrypting the data they're sending home now. Assuming that they are -- and are doing it properly -- then no, you can't.
userbinator 11y ago
Putting machines behind a firewall (or even a virtual firewall, as is possible with VMs) could help somewhat, both in determining what it's doing with the network and in blocking unwanted traffic. Incidentally, one of the features Windows had in 2k and XP that was off by default in Vista, and lost completely in Win7, is a network status icon that shows when the OS is sending/receiving data. Very useful for troubleshooting and identifying unexpected network activity, but its removal makes it much easier for this sort of "phoning home" to go unnoticed... (I know they could've made it lie, but apparently removing it altogether was easier.)
- mirimir 11y ago
  You can see network traffic in Resource Monitor. And yes, you can block unwanted traffic at the LAN router. pfSense VM works well as a virtual firewall. With IPv4 and IPv6 deselected on the Local Area Connection, there's no direct connectivity. In the pfSense VM, you bridge WAN to the host NIC, and attach LAN to a host-only adapter.

by jerrac 11y ago

jlgaddis 11y ago

It will be impossible to know and/or verify what they're actually sending. Even if they told us exactly what the data contains, though, who will believe them? Besides, we already know what they'll say: they'll use it for debugging and troubleshooting, to make the products better, and to enhance your user experience. In certain circumstances, they may share the data -- but only with their trusted partners, of course. In no way, however, will they use it for anything "evil".

ams6110 11y ago
For that matter, it's really just a matter of faith that the settings completely disable the sending of this information (or disable it at all).
- jerrac 11y ago
  Yep. Sadly, the only way to be one hundred percent sure your data is private is to keep it in your head. Even building your own chipsets and other components doesn't protect from physical access. So we have to choose who to trust. Currently, that's not Microsoft. If they open sourced, or at least made the code visible, Windows, I'd be a lot happier. 'Course, then I'd have to trust that the people reviewing the code knew what they were doing. Since I'd not spend the time to review the code myself....
jerrac 11y ago
I don't think it's impossible. Can't you intercept the traffic via a router or something to see what's in it? "...what they'll say..." They already said that in their privacy policy. I was wondering if they had released more details. Like "We record your voice commands and add them to a database of millions of other people making the same command so Cortana can understand people better." And, "Our voice interpretation service is provided by a trusted partner. They signed a contract that requires they take this step and this step to keep your data secure."
- jlgaddis 11y ago
  Well, hopefully they learned something from the NSA documents and are at least encrypting the data they're sending home now. Assuming that they are -- and are doing it properly -- then no, you can't.

userbinator 11y ago

Putting machines behind a firewall (or even a virtual firewall, as is possible with VMs) could help somewhat, both in determining what it's doing with the network and in blocking unwanted traffic. Incidentally, one of the features Windows had in 2k and XP that was off by default in Vista, and lost completely in Win7, is a network status icon that shows when the OS is sending/receiving data. Very useful for troubleshooting and identifying unexpected network activity, but its removal makes it much easier for this sort of "phoning home" to go unnoticed... (I know they could've made it lie, but apparently removing it altogether was easier.)

mirimir 11y ago
You can see network traffic in Resource Monitor. And yes, you can block unwanted traffic at the LAN router. pfSense VM works well as a virtual firewall. With IPv4 and IPv6 deselected on the Local Area Connection, there's no direct connectivity. In the pfSense VM, you bridge WAN to the host NIC, and attach LAN to a host-only adapter.