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Microsoft Denies Windows 8 App Spying Via SmartScreen

Posted by timothy on from the wall-of-separation dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has denied Windows 8 SmartScreen is spying after research by Nadim Kobeissi indicated otherwise." Whether it's "spying" or not, Microsoft is collecting certain information with SmartScreen — the key is what's done with it: The article quotes a Microsoft spokesperson: "We don’t use this data to identify, contact or target advertising to our users and we don’t share it with third parties."

11 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Disable it! by zenlessyank · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a check box where you can disable this 'feature' before installation. Nothing to see here....

    1. Re:Disable it! by menegator · · Score: 3, Informative

      There is a check box where you can disable this 'feature' before installation. Nothing to see here....

      Why is the parent moded -1?

    2. Re:Disable it! by CrazyDuke · · Score: 5, Informative

      Look in his history: His Karma is negative. The comment hasn't even been modded.

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    3. Re:Disable it! by bloodhawk · · Score: 5, Informative

      FFS, where do these retards come from, read the damn article or better still read a non tin foil hat version from somewhere like Ars Technica. It is purely an anti malware prevention system that checks if the hash is a known malware when you go to install. There is a lot to hate windows 8 about, but this is actually one of the beneficial features that should help everyone, from the dumb users that install malware to the rest of us that get spammed by the botnets created by that malware.

    4. Re:Disable it! by Missing.Matter · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not only do they allow you to turn it off during install, they provide a detailed explanation of what the feature does, what data they collect, how they use the data, and how you can turn the feature off during install and after install. This seems to be just about all the information a user needs to make an informed decision about whether or not to leave smart screen on. if the user opts not to read this information and clicks right through the express settings without caring about the consequences, perhaps that's exactly the kind of user this smart screen filter aims to protect; odds are they have the same lackadaisical attitude when install Ing random software from the internet. Its self selecting really.

      Here is a link to my comment from yesterday, which has the exact text relevant to smart screen you encounter on install: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3070309&cid=41111521

    5. Re:Disable it! by Missing.Matter · · Score: 3, Informative

      The check box appears on first account setup, so any use buying a new PC will see it too.

    6. Re:Disable it! by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Informative

      Because then the malware will simply target this just like they do other Windows components? The problem with doing it on the local machine is 1.-The malware guys will know exactly where it is, and 2.- The dancing bunnies problem where the malware writer tricks the user into bypassing the check by offering the right cookie, thus compromising the entire system and allowing the malware writer full control.

      By hosting it remotely you've just bypassed both problems as the servers running this at MSFT is gonna be better protected than grandma's Dell is, and there isn't any users to trick with dancing bunnies to bypass the system. I work on Windows PCs 6 days a week and I can tell you that frankly since Vista drivebys and buffer overflows have gone WAAAY down, now its nearly all social engineering like Security Tool, "free porn" codecs, or getting the user to run some "free" program and bypass the checks, why? Because like all criminals malware writers are lazy creatures and will take the path of least resistance and that is PEBKAC in most cases.

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    7. Re:Disable it! by Shining+Celebi · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nope. I'd rather have a local database, even though I assume that's more difficult to keep up-to-date with what I imagine are rapidly changing blacklists. Firefox, for example does this.

      But this behavior is (unfortunately) pretty bog standard, and in the case of IE, it's nothing new, so it seems a little bizarre to get all outraged about it now when all Microsoft has added is a check on file download hashes.

  2. Re:Sounds lke the same thing as Google by kwark · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Yep.. when you get a new 'droid....automatically reinstall...wonder how that happens."

    Not much to wonder about, on Android you have to opt-in to this service.
    Settings -> Privacy:
    Back up my data [ ]

  3. A more reasonable story by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/windows-8-privacy-complaint-misses-the-forest-for-the-trees/

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  4. However by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apple knows not only what applications you have, when you use them, how many times you use them, but where you are down to a resolution of 10m anywhere on the planet you are, at anytime.
    doesnt matter if you are a politician, gangster or regular joe

    and you are worried about Microsoft ? lol

    bottom line is:
    do you trust an "American" multi national company with your personal data ?