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Windows 8 Is Watching You
The Atlantic Wire ^ | Aug 24, 2012 | Rebecca Greenfield

Posted on 08/27/2012 10:25:18 PM PDT by george76

Playing around with the manufacturers' version of the not-yet-widely released Windows 8, programmer (and hacker) Nadim Kobeissi discovered that the operating system "tells Microsoft about everything you install" and does that "not very securely." Basically, the new Windows has this program called SmartScreen that's designed to protect users but instead gives Windows (and possible hackers) access to a lot of information...

Windows 8 will, by default, inform Microsoft of every app downloaded and installed by every user. This puts Microsoft in a compromising, omniscient situation where they are capable of retaining information on the application usage of all Windows 8 users, thus posing a serious privacy concern. The user is not informed of this while installing and setting up Windows 8, even though they are given the option to disable SmartScreen (which is enabled by default.)

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: microsoft; windows; windows8
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1 posted on 08/27/2012 10:25:27 PM PDT by george76
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To: george76

Color me shocked.


2 posted on 08/27/2012 10:28:34 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1316 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama, a queer and present danger)
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To: george76

Win 8 sounds like a redecorated Iphone OS


3 posted on 08/27/2012 10:29:51 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: george76

Wouldn’t be surprised if it send s that info to big brother as well. Much less provides big brother a back door to watch you.


4 posted on 08/27/2012 10:52:15 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: george76
What is the problem, Comrade? If you are doing nothing illegal, you have nothing to fear from this surveillance...

/sarc

5 posted on 08/27/2012 11:10:18 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: Secret Agent Man
Wouldn’t be surprised if it send s that info to big brother as well. Much less provides big brother a back door to watch you.

Let's just say that the 'government' (convenient label) could require, by law, a back door (just for emergencies during Civil Defense and such), AND THAT information could be spread around on various websites, and some printed publications, and very few, still, would even know about it.

People like you and me. Maybe. And some other Freepers.

But....nahhhhh.... the 'government' would never do that.

6 posted on 08/27/2012 11:46:46 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: All

I’m going to install Windows 9 just for a laugh.

Hey Bill, check this out ...


7 posted on 08/28/2012 12:11:46 AM PDT by Peter ODonnell (E pluribus biden)
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To: george76
The user is not informed of this while installing and setting up Windows 8, even though they are given the option to disable SmartScreen (which is enabled by default.)
 
I'll bet if you didable SmartScreen it will make Windoze 8 a degraded version; as in they will not provide certain upgrades or support...

8 posted on 08/28/2012 2:49:43 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Swordmaker; Ernest_at_the_Beach

ping


9 posted on 08/28/2012 3:47:06 AM PDT by raybbr (People who still support Obama are either a Marxist or a moron.)
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; Salo; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; stylin_geek; ...

10 posted on 08/28/2012 4:36:38 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; Salo; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; stylin_geek; ...

11 posted on 08/28/2012 4:37:25 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: george76

Imagine what divorce lawyers are going to do with this.


12 posted on 08/28/2012 4:37:51 AM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: george76

What a stupid article!

Any hacker that can get into your computer now can see what you have installed.

With both iOS and Windows, updates are performed based on installed applications —— meaning, the information is already accessable to the companies!


13 posted on 08/28/2012 4:38:53 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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To: Erik Latranyi
Any hacker that can get into your computer now can see what you have installed.

That goes without saying. This article, however, is making the claim that the ability to see your system(s) is now automatic, and they don't even have to hack in. Your own system is spying on you--and you agreed to it with the install.

I like my system. No one knows what's on it except for me.

14 posted on 08/28/2012 4:41:59 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: george76

Kind of like ‘the checks in the mail’ etc when it comes to Govt Surveillance.

Heavens to Murgatroyd! Even though it can be done WE would never do something like that..

Even the ‘old’ cop show reruns “L&O (whatever)” from early 2000 would have scenes of where a car is missing and the Detectives will sit around describing the car and (maybe) ‘Lenny’ will say. OH, that particular vehicle has a built in GPS or LOJACK or....etc... we can find it in a hurry.


15 posted on 08/28/2012 4:50:11 AM PDT by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
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To: george76

They’ve already had a “Windows Me”. They should call this one “Windows Meh”.


16 posted on 08/28/2012 5:43:30 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: george76
I installed the free beta version of Win 8 on an older computer of mine. It is very fast and gave the machine new life. Took a while to get used to the interface but it was a short learning curve.

Personally I don't see a big deal with them knowing what apps I am running. I haven't stolen software.

17 posted on 08/28/2012 6:34:52 AM PDT by jdsteel (Give me freedom, not more government.)
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To: Erik Latranyi
With both iOS and Windows, updates are performed based on installed applications —— meaning, the information is already accessable to the companies!

In iOS, that's because of the completely closed mechanism in which apps can be obtained. The App Store has a record of everything you've ever bought, but I think it's still up to your device to check which currently installed apps (a subset of the universe of all apps ever bought) have updates, rather than update notifications being pushed down to your device. (Honestly, I don't know whether it is push or fetch, but fetch makes more sense to me.)

However, in comparison, Mac OS X has its App Store as well, but that's not the sole source of applications for the Mac -- the Mac doesn't "phone home" to Apple to tell it about apps you've installed outside of their App Store. Compare also to Fedora Linux and similar RPM-based package managers. I can install any RPM package I like, and the update utility knows where to go to check for updates to my installed packages; there isn't some "Fedora database" that lists my installed apps anywhere, I get the update information via fetch.

So, to that end, I see no reason for Windows 8 (or any other operating system) to need to "report" a list of all installed apps back to the OS manufacturer. Providing such information optionally and voluntarily to diagnose system issues makes sense, but having it enabled by default, and in the absence of ongoing operational issue, is not a good privacy practice.

18 posted on 08/28/2012 6:54:37 AM PDT by kevkrom (Those in a rush to trample the Constitution seem to forget that it is the source of their authority.)
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To: dayglored
What is the problem, Comrade? If you are doing nothing illegal, you have nothing to fear from this surveillance...

We have Obama to thank for the horror of American spying on each other... for citizens pitted against each other... for the distraction from radical Islamist, Chinese Communists, and those who would do us harm ...

19 posted on 08/28/2012 8:31:03 AM PDT by GOPJ (Homeland Paranoid Insecurity: Making the country safe for liberal elites...)
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To: george76
Basically, the new Windows has this program called SmartScreen that's designed to protect users but instead gives Windows (and possible hackers) access to a lot of information.

Can SmartScreen be disabled? In the meantime, I'll stick with Windows 7, Service Pack 1. Besides, I'm not crazy about the Metro look.

20 posted on 08/28/2012 8:56:06 AM PDT by Repeal 16-17 (Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
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