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Microsoft's Telemetry Additions To Windows 7 and 8 Raise Privacy Concerns

WheezyJoe writes: ghacks and Ars Technica are providing more detail about Windows 10's telemetry and "privacy invasion" features being backported to Windows 7 and 8. The articles list and explain some of the involved updates by number (e.g., KB3068708, KB3022345, KB3075249, and KB3080149). The Ars article says the Windows firewall can block the traffic just fine, and the service sending the telemetry can be disabled. "Additionally, most or all of the traffic appears to be contingent on participating in the CEIP in the first place. If the CEIP is disabled, it appears that little or no traffic gets sent. This may not always have been the case, however; the notes that accompany the 3080149 update say that the amount of network activity when not part of CEIP has been reduced." The ghacks article explains other ways block the unwanted traffic and uninstall the updates.

2 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Telemetry Hack by smittyoneeach · · Score: 2, Funny

    Telemetry hack
    Like shearing your back
    The right suds keep it
    From chopping your stack
    Burma Shave

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  2. Re:Define Your Acronyms by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 3, Funny

    Customer Experience Improvement Program...

    It's a Microsoft customer service, in the sense of "the farmer got in a bull to service his cows".