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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."

4 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 CrazyDuke · · Score: 5, Informative

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

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
    2. 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.

    3. 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