Windows and Privacy.

Hello all, my name is MagikarpDrowned, and today I want to bring something to the flightsim table. Most of us use FSX, FS9, or P3D. These sims all have one thing in common, Microsoft. All of these sims are built by Microsft, for Microsoft's operating systems (exempt P3D.) Today, I decided to read the Privacy Statement from Microsoft. The latest Privacy Agreement went into effect August 1st, for all versions of Windows. This Agreement changed, and many people didn't notice. However, this Agreement is atrocious. The data they want to collect is downright insulting. Here's some of the most ridiculous stuff I could find:

"We collect content of your files and communications when necessary to provide you with the services you use. This includes: the content of your documents, photos, music or video you upload to a Microsoft service such as OneDrive. It also includes the content of your communications sent or received using Microsoft services, such as the:

subject line and body of an email,

text or other content of an instant message,

audio and video recording of a video message, and

audio recording and transcript of a voice message you receive or a text message you dictate."

What they fail to mention is that anything accessible by Windows is communication and data using Microsoft. All your files... They have access.

"We collect data about your location, which can be either precise or imprecise. Precise location data can be Global Position System (GPS) data, as well as data identifying nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots, we collect when you enable location-based services or features. Imprecise location data includes, for example, a location derived from your IP address or data that indicates where you are located with less precision, such as at a city or postal code level."

You have Outlook on your phone? Office? These apps are tracking your precise GPS location.

"We collect data about how you interact with our services. This includes data, such as the features you use, the items you purchase, the web pages you visit, and the search terms you enter. This also includes data about your device, including IP address, device identifiers, regional and language settings, and data about the network, operating system, browser or other software you use to connect to the services. And it also includes data about the performance of the services and any problems you experience with them."

If you use Microsoft services while connected to the internet, anything transmitted will be stored by Microsoft.

 

I strongly encourage that you read the Privacy Statement here, and make your own decisions: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx#tilepspMainOtherImportantPrivacyInformationModule

If you choose to use a computer, smart phone, tablet, even a smart TV, you accept that some information is "sent home" to enable some services to be provided, and to enable other services to work efficiently. If you don't like it, don't use it.

MS Privacy is no different from any other major player in the market, the intentions are the same, just the wording is different.

The user can turn off many of the features if they are worried for some obscure reason but some services are essential to the correct operation.

When you consider the hundreds of millions of people using computers on line every day, your "private" data is a needle in a huge haystack.

 

 

Sent from my tablet thingy!

If you choose to use a computer, smart phone, tablet, even a smart TV, you accept that some information is "sent home" to enable some services to be provided, and to enable other services to work efficiently. If you don't like it, don't use it.

MS Privacy is no different from any other major player in the market, the intentions are the same, just the wording is different.

The user can turn off many of the features if they are worried for some obscure reason but some services are essential to the correct operation.

When you consider the hundreds of millions of people using computers on line every day, your "private" data is a needle in a huge haystack.

 

 

Sent from my tablet thingy!

 

Although some of this is true, I recommend reading up on Microsoft's integration with PRISM before downplaying your privacy. The most important thing about my post was the link at the bottom. I wanted everyone who read this to go check it out. There is some crazy stuff in there, and most people never knew it was updated.

Here are a couple of articles about the privacy options in Windows 10.

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/224616/30-ways-windows-10-phones-home/

 

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/windows-10-doesnt-offer-much-privacy-by-default-heres-how-to-fix-it/

 

If this is still a deal breaker, then it may be time to look into Linux and Flightgear or X-Plane. Don't see Microsoft going backwards on much, if any, of this.

If you've ever purchased anything online, uploaded anything to the Internet, used Amazon, done a Google search, been on Facebook, used a smartphone, payed a bill online, or basically been alive for the past 40 years your information is on the Internet.

 

Right now I can find your IP address.

Get your address.

Find the exact location on a map.

See the latest picture of your house from the street from 2012 and possibly from 2009.

Know how much your house is worth.

Know what your property taxes are.

Know if you had any traffic fines.

Know where you work and how much you make.

Know your birthday.

 

Yes this is just using Google and no it's not hiring a company to find any of this out.

 

Your privacy was GONE long before Win 10 came along, so get over it.

This is disgusting! So if I put something in my C drive it transmits to MS? Even with MS office 2007?

 

I strongly encourage that you read the Privacy Statement here, and make your own decisions: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx#tilepspMainOtherImportantPrivacyInformationModule

 

 

Why didn't you just provide the link, instead of quoting things completely out of context. God forbid they use the data you provided to one of their services that you chose to use!

This is disgusting! So if I put something in my C drive it transmits to MS? Even with MS office 2007?

 

No if you put a file in the OneDrive folder, yes it will transmit it to MS/OneDrive!

 

You are thinking Ubuntu/Linux. They transmit your drive metadata and sell it to Amazon.

I've said it for years: Orwell had it wrong. Big Brother doesn't wear a government uniform. He wears a business suit.

I've said it for years: Orwell had it wrong. Big Brother doesn't wear a government uniform. He wears a business suit.

 

More like lawyers make things sound Orwellian... no corporation gives a hoot about you or what you say.

It's not so much Big Brother , it's more like Tin foil hats and click-bait articles, and yeah lizard people.

Free with windows: with one click Win 10 stops recording your keystrokes.

 

And the NSA stores every one of your messages, calls, texts, and e-mails. Another one that needs to come to grips with the fact that your privacy was gone a very long time ago.

Am I the only one that read 1984 and thought it was a love story?

I think a lot of people are missing the point. I posted a link to the policy because most people never knew it had updated. Furthermore, this policy applies to all versions of Windows. This is stuff you have already consented to. Make sure you know what you are agreeing to give away.

I think a lot of people are missing the point. I posted a link to the policy because most people never knew it had updated. Furthermore, this policy applies to all versions of Windows. This is stuff you have already consented to. Make sure you know what you are agreeing to give away.

 

You have Outlook on your phone? Office? These apps are tracking your precise GPS location.

"We collect data about how you interact with our services. This includes data, such as the features you use, the items you purchase, the web pages you visit, and the search terms you enter. This also includes data about your device, including IP address, device identifiers, regional and language settings, and data about the network, operating system, browser or other software you use to connect to the services. And it also includes data about the performance of the services and any problems you experience with them."

 

 

 

Yup it sure does... and you know what it does with that info????

 

Part of it is Machine Learning algorithm that prevents someone from Russia accessing your email or corporate account even if they get lucky and have the password. You know to protect your privacy.... Also they try to serve you from a location that is approved by your governments privacy laws as well. EU people have to have their data in EU or somewhere in the authorized blue zone. I'm sure as an American you'd also like your data stored in the United States.

Oh dear I see some of us have traded their flying helmets and goggles in for tinfoil hats. If you have just come to the realization that your online activity, your smartphone use, even your in car GPS and entertainment system was having its metadata stored and used by companies so they could flog you their wears, then I am glad you have managed to step out of the 1980s and I welcome you to the new world.

Those who are concerned over their online privacy need not worry, no one really cares that you brought a dozen pairs of Zebra print G-Strings off ebay last week, nor does anyone care that you are a member of the Justin Beiber fan club. If like me you are part of the 99% of people that have a digital footprint that no one cares about, then good for you and you have nothing to worry about, they ( whoever they may be ) don't give a flying monkeys about what you do, buy, or say online.

Like a frog sitting idly in a pot of steadily warming water, too many sheeple still seem unaware that the slow boil of big government or large corporations are killing their constitutional liberties.

 

Government agencies or large corporations think they should have unfettered access to everything people may store or send in electronic format: On computer hard drives, in the cloud, in email or text messaging – for our own safety and protection (the Boogeyman Syndrome).

 

Often you hear the argument “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”, in order to justify increased and invasive surveillance. This argument is not only dangerous, but was used by Hitler to control the masses.

 

Privacy is a basic human need. Governments or large corporations should respect the fundamental need for privacy. In every society that doesn’t, people have responded with subterfuge and created their own private areas out of reach of the governmental surveillance, not because they are criminal, but because doing so is a fundamental human need. Anyone thinking privacy is no big deal, may I suggest you leave the bathroom stall open, next time you have a bowl movement.

 

Sorry, but your digital footprint is very important ($$$) along with what you do, buy, or say online. If it's not important, why would the NSA save every email or text, or why would Google track your browsing only to target you with ads tailored to you?

 

I sure hope no one finds out about my G-String, that's private or is it?

 

 

Dude do you understand the difference between collecting information so I can be mobile across all my devices, versus someone trying to spy on me? Do you even understand the law, or that nothing I provide can actually be tracked back to me

 

You do realize if I favorite something in IE, it's so that I can pick up my phone or tablet and go to that favorite site immediately. Not having to remember the address or search for it... Like I can bookmark a map, and then when I'm driving I can instantly pull up that map? That if I ask Cortana to track a flight, it's so I can find out if there are delays?

 

You obviously don't use modern technology or any modern services...stick to your flightsim and just disconnect the Internet, you'll be better off...except you do come on here and you do share everything anyways. Then complain in a manner that obviously suggests you are the type of person who would abuse the power if given it. Thank god its Microsoft and not you we share this info with.

You are thinking Ubuntu/Linux. They transmit your drive metadata and sell it to Amazon.

 

Most GNU/Linux distros communities will protect your privacy by default, but you're right, there's one search field inside one Ubuntu program (Unity desktop) where data will be sent to Canonical, and this is very bad. You can read more about this here:

https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do

 

Of course, you can find easy ways to stop this. Just use another distro, or another desktop, or just disable this online search option in Unity. Your OS will be quiet about your searches and your privacy, and you can check this with tools like Wireshark.

 

 

With Windows 10, the situation looks very very bad. Even when following several tutorials on how to disable Microsoft spyware, the operating system will still continue to send data when you search something, or type on your keyboard or use your cam, and no-one can tell exactly when this happens or how to disable this and when it will start again (you can't even control the way Windows Update changes your operating system). Several users checked this by listening to their network device.

 

It has been confirmed by Microsoft that this feature is inside your system:

 

"Microsoft collects and uses data about your speech, inking (handwriting), and typing on Windows devices to help improve and personalize our ability to correctly recognize your input."

 

Source in Windows / Input Personalization: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx

 

Why some users can't just disable this feature may be a bug, but this will make it impossible for most professionals to use version 10 as an operating system.

 

 

 

The privacy issue is now also inside Windows 7 and Windows 8. Remember, the advertising program for Windows 10 has been installed like malware in Windows 7, hidden inside a important Windows Update patch called "KB 3035583". And just like this update, they also sent spyware programs to Windows 7 & 8 (they call this "telemetry" updates). To temporary remove them from your system until Microsoft decides to deploy them again, here is a link:

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/28/microsoft-intensifies-data-collection-on-windows-7-and-8-systems/

Most GNU/Linux distros communities will protect your privacy by default, but you're right, there's one search field inside one Ubuntu program (Unity desktop) where data will be sent to Canonical, and this is very bad. You can read more about this here:

https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do

 

Of course, you can find easy ways to stop this. Just use another distro, or another desktop, or just disable this online search option in Unity. Your OS will be quiet about your searches and your privacy, and you can check this with tools like Wireshark.

 

 

With Windows 10, the situation looks very very bad. Even when following several tutorials on how to disable Microsoft spyware, the operating system will still continue to send data when you search something, or type on your keyboard or use your cam, and no-one can tell exactly when this happens or how to disable this and when it will start again (you can't even control the way Windows Update changes your operating system). Several users checked this by listening to their network device.

 

It has been confirmed by Microsoft that this feature is inside your system:

 

"Microsoft collects and uses data about your speech, inking (handwriting), and typing on Windows devices to help improve and personalize our ability to correctly recognize your input."

 

Source in Windows / Input Personalization: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx

 

Why some users can't just disable this feature may be a bug, but this will make it impossible for most professionals to use version 10 as an operating system.

 

 

 

The privacy issue is now also inside Windows 7 and Windows 8. Remember, the advertising program for Windows 10 has been installed like malware in Windows 7, hidden inside a important Windows Update patch called "KB 3035583". And just like this update, they also sent spyware programs to Windows 7 & 8 (they call this "telemetry" updates). To temporary remove them from your system until Microsoft decides to deploy them again, here is a link:

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/28/microsoft-intensifies-data-collection-on-windows-7-and-8-systems/

 

What???, the Cortana/Internet Search tool actually sends stuff to the internet???? Oh my freaking lord. And btw you can turn off inking only an idiot can't use a slider. Bottom line morons believe everything without actually running Wireshark or Fiddler...it's in the EULA!!!

Bottom line morons believe everything without actually running Wireshark or Fiddler...it's in the EULA!!!

 

So, you ran these tools and came to another conclusion than the guys from Ars Technica ?

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/

So, you ran these tools and came to another conclusion than the guys from Ars Technica ?

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/

 

For example, even with Cortana and searching the Web from the Start menu disabled, opening Start and typing will send a request to http://www.bing.com to request a file called threshold.appcache which appears to contain some Cortana information, even though Cortana is disabled. The request for this file appears to contain a random machine ID that persists across reboots

 

Yes because it doesn't actually SEND any information, especially anything that Windows isn't sending CONSTANTLY to validate the LICENSE. It doesn't even send personally identifying information. They are checking to see how many idiots in this world still use the start menu.

 

Check for yourself instead of relying on a complete tool like Peter, who says "I don't know what any of this means, it's just communicating with a server"

Yes because it doesn't actually SEND any information, especially anything that Windows isn't sending CONSTANTLY to validate the LICENSE.

 

It doesn't send or it's constantly sending ? How many identifiers do they need to validate a license and how often ?

 

It doesn't even send personally identifying information. They are checking to see how many idiots in this world still use the start menu.

 

Millions of people like to use a start menu (including me with a GNOME desktop). Why do you call us idiots ?

 

I don't think insults may help you to convince people who care about their privacy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZ-mwaDhlo

It doesn't send or it's constantly sending ? How many identifiers do they need to validate a license and how often ?

 

 

 

Millions of people like to use a start menu (including me with a GNOME desktop). Why do you call us idiots ?

 

I don't think insults may help you to convince people who care about their privacy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZ-mwaDhlo

 

Between file associations and quicklaunch bar... I never need to use the Start Menu, and when I do it's always via typing in the program name, not crawling through a mess of stupid hierarchies. Speaking of which outside of JSON data I never tend to do as trees are rather archaic and something that is completely not present in the mobile world.

 

Also the license check is once every 24-48 hours. One's cellphone does that more frequently but no one seems to give a crap about that.

Ok, this is getting ugly. I simply started this topic to make people aware of their situation, not to debate said situation. I'm not saying a debate is inappropriate, especially considering how the community provided mixed opinions. However, please have a civilized discussion, and refrain from excessively offensive language, because in our hearts, we all share one common passion, regardless of operating system or tech-savyness. With that said, I find it interesting to see that the community reacted the way it did. I think it really spawned some interesting viewpoints, while leading others to expose theirs, and that is definitely a good thing.

I fail to understand why people are so very concerned about what they perceive MS will be doing with their OS in which YOU decide if YOU want to use or not. As has been pointed out your cell phone checks in more often ( every 10-15mins I understand ) and just as much information about you could be gathered from that device.

You walk down any city now days and chances are you will be captured on a camera, the same goes for when you are in the car. It is now common in most modern police forces that their cars have number plate recognition that will give them instant access to the owners information stored on government data bases. If you own a credit card your spending can be tracked, the whole reason for loyalty cards is for that reason so companies can and do tailor advertising due to trends.

 

My point being that what MS is doing is nothing new, nothing that wasn't already being done. Information that may be gathered is simply information that they have already. Am I concerned, no. Like 99% of people I have nothing on my computer that is illegal or pirated, nor do I engage in any illegal activity through my computers. I for one couldn't care less if MS has it so it checks my system every 10 seconds if it means that those who do pray on the 99% have a harder time of it.