Underground Piracy Sites Want To Block Windows 10 Users

An anonymous reader writes: Some smaller pirate sites have become concerned about Windows 10 system phoning home too many hints regarding that the users are accessing their site. Therefore, the pirate administrators have started blocking Windows 10 users from accessing the BitTorrent trackers that the sites host. The first ones to hit the alarm button were iTS, which have posted a statement and started redirecting Windows 10 users to a YouTube video called Windows 10 is a Tool to Spy on Everything You Do. Additionally, according to TorrentFreak, two other similar dark web torrent trackers are also considering following suit. "As we all know, Microsoft recently released Windows 10. You as a member should know, that we as a site are thinking about banning the OS from FSC," said one of the FSC staff. Likewise, in a message to their users, a BB admin said something similar: "We have also found [Windows 10] will be gathering information on users' P2P use to be shared with anti piracy group."

Comments

Firewalls?

[Mister Transistor]

I predict a strong market for a nice little generic Microsoft-filtering hardware firewall devices. Maybe even an intelligent one that will allow incoming updates and scrub or anonymize outgoing requests.

Kickstarter, anyone?

Re:Nothing is free

[martin-boundary]

Uhm, no. Plenty of things in life are free. The reason MS is being despicable here is that they are choosing to offer free windows in exchange for installing spyware. It was wrong when people bundled spyware with freeware software installers, and it is wrong when people bundle spyware with an OS.

Just switch to Debian or another Free OS that doesn't spy on you. It may be a little less convenient, but the inconvenience pays off in a bit more safety the next time you download something.

What a brilliant way.....

[Drakonblayde]

.... to get people to stop pirating Windows. Make it spy on the pirates!

Microsoft will be stopped

[aaaaaaargh!]

At least in the EU I see no long future for Windows 10's illegal built-in surveillance tools. The EULA violates local laws in many EU countries and probably also EU law, and it is only a matter of time until some EU commission will put an end to it.

Or, at least I hope so, because at one point or another I'll be forced to upgrade to this pile of shit. :/

Re:Microsoft will be stopped

[Anonymous Coward]

The EULA violates local laws in many EU countries and probably also EU law, and it is only a matter of time until some EU commission will put an end to it.

The situation is much more dramatic than that.

There is no feasible way that a Windows 10 system can be used on a machine that collects or processes credit-card data (think: PCI DSS security standards), stores medical data (think: HIPAA security requirements), holds confidential legal documents (think: any lawyer's office anywhere), contains NDA-protected or trade-secret documents, or holds documents that contain "insider information" as defined by the SEC.

Remember that it's Microsoft itself that gets to decide what user information it collects from your Win10 PC, and, most crucially: Microsoft can force a silent system update that changes what user information is collected. This puts business users who run Win10 at significant legal risk, given that they knew (or should have known) that every Win10 machine contains a general-purpose mechanism pre-installed that allows a third-party attacker (Microsoft) to silently collect any information at will.

Also remember that Microsoft is competing against Google, and one of Google's huge advantages is that it actually stores the documents, which gives Google the opportunity to scan those documents looking for consumer behavior and identity. In Microsoft's zeal to compete, it's easy to imagine them scanning all your documents in order to "improve the user's experience and offer more relevant services".

This is a massive security hole embedded, by design, within the OS itself. Using a third-party app to close that security hole would not likely be an acceptable solution, because, again, Microsoft controls the OS, can silently update it on the fly, and thus can attack or circumvent any third-party security app of their choosing -- or else -- Microsoft may attack the effectiveness of any third-party security app by secretly funding the makers of that app, or by purchasing it outright.

It looks like Microsoft is betting so much on the value of collecting user data for marketing purposes, that they're willing to lose a significant chunk of their business users who can't legally risk being the target of all that data mining.

And?

[Anonymous Coward]

So run a Linux VM on your win10 PC. Log the vm in to vpn, do all torrenting from there.

Re:Not just Windows 10

[aNonnyMouseCowered]

"But from all the media reports, it looks like Windows 10 is turning into a conspiracy theorists bukake dream."

Damn it. Now I had to look up the word in Wiki: "The word bukkake is often used in Japanese to describe pouring out water with sufficient momentum to cause splashing or spilling. Indeed, bukkake is used in Japan to describe a type of dish where hot broth is poured over noodles, as in bukkake udon and bukkake soba."

Re: Dear MS. You Really Don't Want To Spy On Users

[LVSlushdat]

I have a sneaking hunch that my small business I have upgrading systems still running XP, mostly older retired folks (like me) to Linux may get a BIG shot in the arm soon, once joe-six-pack finds out just how pervasive the spying is on Microsoft's new OS.. Expert opinion is that not only keylogging, but streaming both any microphone or webcam data goes out to Microsoft servers.. I guess they figure its all good because they couch it in oh-so-mealy terms in their massive EULA, but once Joe-six-pack catches on and has this blatant spying thrown in his face, I predict you're gonna see a MASSIVE increase in Linux's adoption rate... Just sayin..