Posted on 12/13/2018 1:42:01 PM PST by dayglored
All your activity are belong to us
Updated A feature introduced in the April 2018 Update of Windows 10 may have set off a privacy landmine within the bowels of Redmond as users have discovered that their data was still flowing into the intestines of the Windows giant, even with the thing apparently turned off.
In what is likely to be more cock-up than conspiracy, it appears that Microsoft is continuing to collect data on recent user activities even when the user has explicitly said NO, DAMMIT!
First noted in an increasingly shouty thread over on Reddit, the issue is related to Activity History, which is needed to make the much-vaunted and little-used Timeline feature work in Windows 10.
Introduced in what had previously been regarded as one of Microsoft's flakiest updates – prior to the glory of the October 2018 Update, of course – Timeline allows users to go back through apps as well as websites to get back to what they were doing at a given point.
Use a Microsoft account, and a user can view this over multiple PCs and mobile devices (as long you are signed in with that same Microsoft account). The key setting is that "Send my activity history to Microsoft" check box. Uncheck it and you'd be forgiven for thinking your activity would not be sent Redmondwards. Right?
Except, er, the slurping appears to be carrying on unabated.
The Redditors reported that if one takes a look at the Activity History in the Privacy Dashboard lurking within their account, apps and sites are still showing up.
The fellows over at How To Geek have speculated the issue may be something to do with Windows' default diagnostic setting, which is set to Full and will send back app and history unless changed to Basic. Of course, Windows Insiders have no option but to accept Full, although a bit of slurping is likely to be the least of their problems.
A thread at TenForums has also provided a guide to turning the thing off, ranging from tinkering with Group Policies through to diving headlong into the Registry. Neither are options likely to appeal to users who would expect that clearing the "Send data" box would stop data being sent.
Deliberate slurpage, or a case of poor QA and one team not talking to the other aside, it isn't a great look for Microsoft and users are muttering about potential legal action. Privacy lawyers will certainly be taking a close look – after all, the gang at Redmond are already under scrutiny for harvesting data and telemetry from lucky users of Windows 10.
Google has been on the receiving end of a sueball for slurping location data from user's phones and providing an over-complicated way to turn off the "feature".
It is all a bit of a mess and has left users unsure of what is being collected and when. We have contacted Microsoft to find out how it plans to deal with the situation (ideally before 2018's privacy bogeyman, GDPR, makes an appearance) and will update if a response is forthcoming. ®
Microsoft got in touch to insist it is committed to privacy and transparency, but admitted there is indeed a bit of naming problem, with "Activity History" cropping up in both Windows 10 and the Microsoft Privacy dashboard.
Marisa Rogers, Privacy Officer at the software giant, told us: "We are working to address this naming issue in a future update."
The slurpage collection is of course for your benefit and Rogers added that users have "controls to manage your data."
As for turning the thing off, Microsoft confirmed that, yes, you have to go to two places to actually stop your Activity History being shared with Redmond:
1. Under Settings->Privacy->Activity history: ensure the setting "Let Windows sync my activities from this PC to the cloud" is not checked
2. Under Settings->Privacy->Diagnostics & feedback: ensure Diagnostic data is set to Basic
I might watch that movie with family. Thanks.
The mention of the word, Medieval, was exaggeration, of course, and an overly vague description. I have not been to China and don’t know much at all but have been interested in the cultures there and have talked to quite a few Chinese immigrants in the U.S. (talk about business, designs of remote rural home utilities and agri-tech.) and visitors (students at a university during the ‘80s).
It is my general understanding (correct or incorrect, speculation and all) that the general situation is one of being taken care of more in some ways with conditions being a willingness to learn, work and conform (in some ways). One must be very polite and old fashioned in the presence of most women (in some ways) and avoid promoting changes contrary to national policies.
One must also be aware that some people have higher status or positions of extra responsibility and be more careful with words and behavior.
Some Americans perceive that some Chinese people behave rudely. In the perceptions of many Chinese, some westerners behave very rudely.
They have to be able to force updates on you at their whim because they don’t intend giving you any choice in the matter when they release the successor to Windows 10. It will be subscription-based, meaning you have to keep paying them for it FOREVER or they’ll disable it. So when this new Windows is ready, they’re going to forcibly update you to it. What they’re doing now is fine-tuning an infrastructure that will give them the ability to control what you think is your operating system so they can maintain absolute control over it. To include crippling or disabling it. Because there’s no point having a subscription system if they can’t deny you use of the operating system for non-payment.
If you didn’t know, you don’t own the copy of Windows you’re running. Neither did you own the MS-DOS you used for that matter. M$ has never sold an operating system, they only licensed its use. Check the EULA you agreed to when you initialized the OS. To them, charging rent for the continued use of “their” OS is just a logical extension of that principle because it assures them of a steady stream of income.
Thanks!
I hear ya. I have a client who uses W10 though, and I need to have something around where I can play with so as to appear to be knowldegeable—lol! I have W7pro on my main box and it’s tweaked pretty wwell for privacy.
Linux runs on raspberry pi’s, and I just bought a couple. Soo..need to learn them. I’m actually going to be running a stripped version of labView on them. Beaglebone also.
Danger will robinson! Learning curve ahead!
Thanks. Yeah, looks like I might just do that—create a new email. That would bring the email count up to eleventy.
Windows 10 is a good operating system and I have a lot of software that runs only on basically nothing else. But under the leadership of Satya Narayana Nadella the company has lost its way in my opinion. Microsoft keeps changing Windows 10 and taking more and more control away from users. They are trying to heard us all in a certain direction. I have purchased Windows Pro licenses for all of our computers and even virtual machines to try and keep as much control as possible.
The latest “October Surprise took my primary laptop to its knees and took me two days to figure out how to get it up and running again. It was something really stupid and I believe a bug in the new system. But I turned off automatic updates in the group policy editor again. I had become complacent after not having any difficulties for about a year.
The real goal of the latest update is cell phone integration and a push to get people to use Microsoft's Edge browser on phones and tablets. This is likely to be a big waste of energy on Microsoft's part. Who is going to install Edge on these devices even with this big push from Microsoft? It is probably one of the last things anyone I know would plan on doing. Android and Apple users have got enough problems before allowing Microsoft to Fudge up their devices. I am sick and tired of having these big companies along with the government tracking everything that I do.
In conclusion, Microsoft, Apple, and Google all suck. Linux isn't a viable option for those who have need for specialty software for photo and video editing, 3D design work and even compatibility when working with office software with users from other organizations. When it comes to personal computing Microsoft is still the dominant player... it is too bad they can't just capitalize on that and not get sidetracked by all the other bologna they keep trying to get into.
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