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Microsoft Telemetry Collection, Explained (theregister.co.uk)
New submitter Poohsticks writes: There's a nice breakdown of the updated information from Microsoft about what they are doing with the telemetry data that Windows 10 is collecting (original Technet article here) by Chris Williams at The Register. Interesting finds that better explain what's happening with that data (and how to control it).
Very little is explained. And there's no OFF setting.
Fuck Microsoft, hard.
We're still talking about a lot of basically untested internet aware services running on your background that have a microsoft tier of security, which means it is probably exploitable the hell and back, and basically identical on every single windows 10 box.
That sounds like a gros michel banana scenario here pretty much, where someone with evil intentions would be able to abuse one of those flaws and pretty much wipe out a large quantity of windows 10 machines if not all of em in a whim.
You can turn off Windows Update by setting the following registry entries:
Add a REG_DWORD value called DoNotConnectToWindowsUpdateInternetLocations to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate and set the value to 1.
-and-
Add a REG_DWORD value called DisableWindowsUpdateAccess to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate and set the value to 1.
Even something as straightforward as changing a registry setting, is beyond the skillset (or willingness, or caring enough) of the majority of average PC users. That is: if PC is actually under users' direct control - in a corporate setting, it often won't be. Imho any OS should by default send out / retrieve as little as practical from network sources. Beyond that, network access should be user-triggered, enabled on an individual services / application level.
But what struck me while going through the TechNet article, is its length. Are you supposed to check that many settings all over the place, and then repeat to check or re-set those settings each time some update(s) are applied?
That could be a full-time job. Unless you bring in the help of 3rd party software, which -under the hood- may behave as nasty as Win10 itself. Given these facts, I'd say that if you control PC('s) you work on, you have basically 3 choices at this point:
Choose wisely, and know this: your time isn't "free".
> what they are doing with the telemetry data that Windows 10 is collecting ?
They're spying on you with no way to turn it off. That *IS* what they're doing. Windows 10 *IS* spyware. let's go through the questions... again...
1 Downloads itself to your machine without you specifically asking for it ? YES
2 Aggressively attempts to install itself taking over your computer in the process ? YES
3 Sends unknown and/or encrypted data to unknown third parties ? YES
4 Sends personally identifying information to unknown third parties ? YES
5 Easy to remove ? NO
Hmmm... Looks like spyware, smells like spyware, walks like spyware and talks like spyware. Windows 10 *IS* spyware.
Anyone willingly using it is a moron. Microsoft shills go f**** yourself.
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
A new record! The top post immediately invokes Godwin's Law. WTG!!!
All references to that aside, though, holy cow! Let's not make it easy for anyone, and make sure those running the cheapest versions have no choice...
No thanks.