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Microsoft is Privately Testing 'Bali,' a Way To Give Users Control of Data Collected About Them (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

Microsoft is working on a project codenamed "Bali," which is designed to give users control of data collected about them. The project is a Microsoft Research incubation effort and seems to be in private testing at this stage. From a report: I learned of the existence of Bali in a tweet from "Longhorn," which I saw via another Twitter user, "Walking Cat." Longhorn described Bali as "a project that can delete all your connection and account information (inverseprivacyproject)." I found a link to the Bali project page. That page allows those with a code to sign into the site and says those without a code can request one.

The "About" page for Bali describes it as a "new personal data bank which puts users in control of all data collected about them.... The bank will enable users to store all data (raw and inferred) generated by them. It will allow the user to visualize, manage, control, share and monetize the data."

6 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. WHY IS THIS DATA BEING GENERATED BY DEFAULT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's the fucking question, not whether you can force users to jump through hoops to maintain (the illusion of) basic privacy with some new portal, WHY DO YOU THINK IT'S FINE TO COLLECT ALL THIS BY DEFAULT?

    The fuck do you think you are, Facebook?

    1. Re:WHY IS THIS DATA BEING GENERATED BY DEFAULT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Microsoft, offering to let the tortured choose when and how they are tortured, is pretty proud of itself.

    2. Re:WHY IS THIS DATA BEING GENERATED BY DEFAULT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. They are working on a solution to a problem that they created in the first place.

      Microsoft: Just make Windows NOT fucking spy on users. That's the real solution.

  2. Re:I'm sure /. will find a way to poo all over thi by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    User privacy protections aren't bad, but the best thing would be for MS to give users the real option of going cloudfree, not nudging users (hard) to cloud-up their personal data.

  3. How about by rtkluttz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about software written that doesn't try to force you into the cloud. How about controls that truly limit information leaks from your browser that can be used to fingerprint you, such as always reply with the same font list regardless of what you have on your computer, or refuse to give up mouse hover location, and do not send keystrokes in real time, require a click or OK to send form data as a completed field rather than streamed. Take away every avenue used for unique identification by default at the browser level. Unique identification should only be possible if the user signs in with credentials.

    --
    Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
  4. Re:I'm sure /. will find a way to poo all over thi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    anti-MS haters

    Just because you don't like something it doesn't make you a 'hater'.. grow the fuck up snowflake, you sound like a Bieber fan.

    Are you that fucked in the head that you can't see the problem with this ?
    I'll give you a clue, you shouldn't need to go to a website with a 'special code' to delete this shit, it should be an option built into Windows so that users can opt out of MS grabbing this data in the first place.