

Windows 10, Privacy, and the Hole in the Sky - sudioStudio64

The privacy concerns. The letter from the Mozilla guy. I&#x27;m not even saying that they aren&#x27;t valid. The vitriol and high-horse moralizing. How is that productive HN style discourse? None of it&#x27;s constructive. How can we talk about these issues in a way that doesn&#x27;t blow them out of proportion and actually exchange some information?
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mattkrea
I'm not sure how this is blowing them out of proportion. The 'Express'
configuration that nearly every user will run with sends virtually everything
you do to Microsoft. Please explain how that is not a serious privacy concern.

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sudioStudio64
That's not really accurate. Maybe we can reach out to someone at MS and they
can explain exactly what is being sent. It certainly isn't virtually
everything that you do...it's something, it's not accurate to say its
everything.

MS people frequent this site. Maybe one of them could get some detail on the
subject?

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mattkrea
It is keystrokes, app you use, browsing and search history, speech, encryption
keys.. That's a concerning amount of information.

This is where I __strongly __prefer the Apple way of signing in with a normal
account and -- if you choose -- linking it to an iCloud account. This is very
different from the Windows style where MS accounts take over your local login.

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sudioStudio64
I just don't think that's an accurate picture. They aren't recording your
voice and storing it somewhere. Browsing and search history are collected by
other platforms for predictive browse ahead and autocomplete, and it's a
useful feature. App usage is collected for diagnostic purposes.

You don't have to use a MS account. You can use a local account. 10 is
different from windows 8 in that regard. You can take Cortana off the taskbar.
Use a different browser in incognito mode all the time. Store your encryption
keys in a TPM, smartcard, or Active Directory. There are actually lots of
options. You have to actually look into it though.

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mattkrea
Right. The problem is that 99% of users are going to be using these defaults--
not that you or I can't figure out how to disable it.

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sudioStudio64
So, a second ago it was that you can't use a local account...but you can, so
now it's..."The defaults are bad and people are dumb."

Literally all of the people who install it or buy a PC with it installed have
the choice of making that decision or purchase.

And you're right, they won't change the defaults and that's not a travesty of
some kind. It actually really doesn't matter to most people. Not because they
don't understand it. They do, and they want to use it for one reason or
another. People in our technical circles overestimate the importance of this
stuff by some fairly crazy amounts.

