MatchaZed

A Well-Intentioned Fool

  • she/her

Math/video games/anime trash nerd

Hope is my name. Matcha, or Zed is acceptable online. H. P. to some. Gender is she/they in that order of preference currently. Trans.


mcc
@mcc

My experience with Windows 10 was me turning off the "Bing" features, and then one day turning on my computer and discovering that overnight with an automatic update Microsoft had turned them back on and everything I typed into the Start search was being forwarded to a network service. This happened more than once.

It's not going to be enough to turn this technology off. Based on how they acted with Windows 10, you have to assume if you turn it off Microsoft will turn it back on without telling you. Similarly, i's not helpful if they claim some of this data is kept local; based on how they acted with Windows 10, you have to assume Microsoft will silently turn a local query into a network query without telling you.

Think about how union-busting businesses will use this technology. Think about how schools, for example directed by trans-hating politicians, will use this technology. Think about how domestic abusers will use this technology. Think about how parents (but I repeat myself) will use this technology.

The only way, the only way, to prevent data from being leaked, misused, accessed by the wrong people etc is to not collect the data in the first place. Once Microsoft has collected the data their looming "AI" updates threaten, it will get stolen and it will get misused. And once Microsoft has normalized pervasive snooping on users, the generation of stalkerware products that come after it will be worse than we can currently imagine.


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in reply to @mcc's post:

If you uninstalled Windows, it would take all of this out with it.
...unless Microsoft managed to inject it into your computer's BIOS, which would put it squarely in the "malware/virus" category and get them in even more hot water.

It's probably my paranoia talking but somehow I wouldn't put it past them. "Doing illegal shit now and potentially facing consequences later" seems pretty common these days.

it’s not cost effective to do this. their market share is so huge whatever marginal percent of a percent of users stop using windows do not have profitable enough information to bother paying people to design, write and inject spyware onto the bios.