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Windows 8 Tells Microsoft About Everything You Install
musicon writes "According to Nadim Kobeissi, Windows 8 is configured by default (using a new featured called Windows SmartScreen) to immediately tell Microsoft about every app you download and install. This is a very serious privacy problem, specifically because Microsoft is the central point of authority and data collection/retention here and therefore becomes vulnerable to being served judicial subpoenas or National Security Letters intended to monitor targeted users. This situation is exacerbated when Windows 8 is deployed in countries experiencing political turmoil or repressive political situations."
While SmartScreen is enabled by default, it's possible for users to turn it off. Also, it's worth noting that Microsoft is hardly alone in this regard, given the rise of app stores over the past several year. (Not that it exculpates this behavior.)
I like your vision of a privacy-invasion free world.
Don't want to be videotaped? Don't go outside.
Don't want to be wiretapped? Don't use a phone.
Don't want medical records in the wild? Don't go to a doctor.
Visionary indeed.
No you won't. Quit trolling for +5.
If you are going to blame Microsoft for what third party software does on your computer, then you can't also blame them when they start to track and address such problems. With things like EAs Origin, Steam, etc, what you do on your computer is no longer just your business. At least Microsoft lets you turn it off.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Dear Microsoft, don't try to be apple, we already have apple and you'd just be playing catch up and alienating your current customer base to try and get a customer base that already despises you more than your current one.
Does Windows 8 have an opt-out feature?
Yes, they do.
How do you people thing virus scanners work?
Also, it's worth noting that Microsoft is hardly alone in this regard, given the rise of app stores over the past several year. (Not that it exculpates this behavior.)
Can't compare this. If I download something from the Play Store, I know Google knows I install that app. After all I have to log in using my Google account, and use their app to download from their store. Afaik they do not know what I install from third-party sources, like alternative app stores. Nor do they have any right knowing that.
Apparently MS monitors what you install from third-party sources. Without telling you, and without asking explicit permission. That's simply evil. They have no business knowing what I install from third-party sources. The fact that this data is stored in some foreign country (the US is a foreign country to me, and some 95% of the world's overall population) with notoriously poor privacy protection only helps making it a lot worse.
Also, it's worth noting that Microsoft is hardly alone in this regard, given the rise of app stores over the past several year.
Come on. This is just excuse-making - sure in any given app store the store owner knows what you downloaded - by definition they had to for you to download it!
But here aren't we talking about a more general notion that ANY application installed from anywhere is known by Microsoft? When you use the Amazon app store on Android, does Google know what you have? When I use Cydia on a iPhone, Apple doesn't know what applications I install from there... on the Mac I can use the app store but if I get applications from elsewhere Apple doesn't know about those either.
Just because App Stores exist does not give Microsoft the right to track every app installed.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What's wrong with sticking with Windows 7 for now?
It's not like Windows 7 is automatically obsolete as soon as 8 hits the market.
App stores will know everything you download from them for the same reason any other retailer would, you bought it there so there is a transaction record. This is tracking and sending to Microsoft information about EVERY application you download outside of their eventual marketplace. Apple doesn't know that I downloaded Handbreak from their site but with this Microsoft would, or to put it in a way that could cause an issue, Apple doesn't know that I downloaded LOIC, but Microsoft would. That is why it becomes an issue over and above something like the Mac App Store.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Is Windows 7 really that bad? I spent about 10 minutes customizing it and find it to be a much better experience than XP. The only thing that chews my balls is the lack of an included utility to password-protect .zip files, but aside from that, I can't think of anything I really dislike about it.
I used to be a die hard Mac guy until the early 2000s when I realized none of the games I wanted to play were available for Mac. So I switched to XP and never looked back. Now I am on Windows 7 and it works for me, but like many 8 scares the hell out of me. I want my task bar, I don't want a tablet GUI, and now this. Will I switch to Linux in the immediate future? Nope. But I won't be "upgrading" to 8. And if MS doesn't see the light and fix it before 7 is no longer supported, then I'll certainly look to Linux. Prior to Windows 8 I would never have considered that. I could probably be forced to get used to the GUI, but privacy issues are a big deal to me.
Ethically it is hard to support any company which obviously has zero respect for user/consumer rights.
Where do we find companies that have respect for user/consumer rights, because I would be happy to use their products and services.
Just a dude. Stuck in IT.
Does Windows 8 have an opt-out feature?
Yes, they do.
But even if you use those opt outs on your new computer you still pay the Microsoft tax.
Isn't that equivalent to the answer of 'If you don't want Windows SmartScreen to tell Microsoft about your installed apps, go into Privacy and turn it off.'?
It would seem to me that the point the parent was making is that Chrome's data reporting habits and this new one in Windows 8 are effectively the same. Both are enabled by default, and both report data back to their 'owners'. That both have an 'opt out' to turn them off really doesn't differentiate or describe either one as awesome with regards to privacy.
Freedom Respectfully disagrees
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Yes, because warning before running downloaded apps that aren't signed by trusted developers (trusted means your credit card is on file with Apple) is just like the same as quietly telling Microsoft everything you install, without asking.
You mean the OS that, by default, blocks you from running content that isn't blessed by Apple?
Curious - how have they modified GCC to make this possible?
Or are you going to man up and say the same nonsense about Linux? Because, after all, you can't run anything RedHat hasn't blessed on RHEL. You can't run anything Canonical hasn't blessed, on Ubuntu. In precisely the manner that you can't run anything on OS X that isn't 'blessed' by Apple.
Except, of course, you can, for all three. Very easily.
I know this is meant as a joke, but the reality is that Linux truly is ready for the desktop right this second.
1. Xorg.conf nightmares ended years ago.
2. A fresh Windows install means a lot of your hardware doesn't work and you have to hunt for drivers from third party websites. This is particularly fun if it is your wireless network card that isn't working. For the most part, hardware "just works" in Linux these days.
3. Out of the box on a Linux install, you likely have most of the apps you already need. If you don't, then installing and managing your software is a breeze.
4. Even as people praise Windows 7, it did retain a lot of usability regressions from Vista. It is somewhat a matter of opinion, but I'd contend that KDE is the most usable desktop out there currently. If you disagree, you can run Unity, Gnome 3, or whatever you want in Linux. You're not bound to one UI you don't like (such as the new Metro UI in Windows 8).
5. Linux can pass the Grandma test. People often suggest you have to re-learn a new OS. I'd contend that it is easier to give Grandma a KDE desktop than a Windows 8 PC. I converted my 60 year old mother to openSUSE and KDE. She was reticent at first, but came to really like it.
6. Linux is secure. You don't have to worry about viruses, spyware, etc. You spend your time using your computer as opposed to fixing your computer.
7. Have a Windows app you can't leave behind? There is a decent chance it runs in Wine. And since we have shifted more to web-based apps, desktop apps are less important today than they were 10 years ago.
No OS or desktop is perfect, but if you did an objective comparison today of what is the easiest and best OS to run on your desktop/laptop for most people today, I truly believe Linux would come out on top.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Oh, please. I've been using Linux "on the desktop" for years, and I can tell you I wouldn't go back to Windows if it were just as free (as in beer). The subject of this article is only one more in a long series of reasons why.
These "not ready for the desktop" commentaries pop up on queue with almost every mention of Linux. They remind me of the manufactured doubt that the fossil fuel industry spews to convince the ignorant and gullible that they should cling forever to their traditional energy sources. And why not, there are billions of dollars at stake there, too.
Linux didn't come with your computer and it's not advertised on the tee vee, so I have no doubt that you'd cling to what you're running even if it punched you in the face and pissed on your shirt every time you boot up. Which is pretty much what it's coming to...
You mean the OS that, by default, blocks you from running content that isn't blessed by Apple? Yes, you can download apps from sources that aren't the App Store - but they still have to be signed, otherwise, it either will refuse to run or lie to you and say that the app is "damaged" and you should "drag it to the trash."
This is complete bullshit. At no point does this ever, ever happen.
And if you try and disable this "feature" then it yells at you, warning you of dire consequences if you try and allow non-Apple-blessed apps to run.
This, too, is so far from true, and said with such force as to considered a lie. Let's take a look, shall we?
GateKeeper fully enabled, Disabling GateKeeper, GateKeeper disabled
Wow, that wasn't so hard, now was it? And the "yelling"? The "dire consequences"? Let's quote: "Choosing 'Anywhere' makes your Mac less secure." That's it. The entire message. But... in your world this is yelling about dire consequences.
Unless the joke was that Mac OS X is a downgrade from Windows 8, which is true, but it sounds like you're saying Mountain Lion is a way to opt out of being spied on by a giant corporation, and it isn't.
Really? So if you don't buy anything from the App Store, and turn off GateKeeper, what information about downloaded files is communicated to Apple?
Are you an astroturfer or something? I find it hard to believe anyone can be this dense unless they're getting paid to do so.
Technically, Ubuntu offers an option to collect download and installation data from the software center. I believe it prompts you though and clearly explains that's it's anonymous.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Try holding down ctrl as you run it the first time, then select to run it. It won't ask you again.
Also, it actually asks you if you will allow data to be sent to Apple. While I don't agree with it, at least it asks and you have a choice. Then again, even Debian has data returning home, by choice.
Thanks for playing.
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
I have the usage survey turned off and also have the trusted vendor thing turned off. I've encrypted my mac and I feel like it's pretty secure now.
Ubuntu and Mint are almost perfect, but I found one major issue that I guess Americans won't notice: Setting the keyboard layout for the login screen has no graphical configuration tool. I thought this was fixed years ago, so maybe they unfixed it recently. Anyway, the only way I can get the keymap I need before reaching the logged in desktop is to edit a file in /etc/. We shouldn't have to that anymore, ever.
Linux passed the grandpa test years ago, but Wine is still too much of a hassle for newbies. Some people need to have an admin set up some things for them, like anything you need to run in Wine. But having seen videos of old people trying to use Win8, I'm expecting them to have trouble running Windows apps in Windows :P