Windows 10 – Microsoft’s Big Data-grabbing (or spying?) OS
Windows 10 – Microsoft’s Big Data-grabbing (or spying?)
OS
By Bernard Marr Aug 11, 2015
It’s been a couple of weeks since the launch of Windows
10 and the numerous voices raising concerns over privacy and how it uses
personal data are not getting any quieter.
Many of the concerns stem from the fact that if users
follow the software’s recommendations and stick to default settings while
installing their free upgrade, they are effectively giving Microsoft permission
to directly monitor pretty much everything they do on their machines. This
includes offline activity such as editing files stored locally in private
folders on your computer, as well as everything you do online.
It doesn’t stop there, though. As well as monitoring and
storing records of this activity, people installing the upgrade are - perhaps
unknowingly if like many they have become complacent about reading privacy
policies – giving Microsoft permission to share it with unspecified “partners”,
for unspecified reasons.
Although the terms and conditions are incredibly vague
about why they are doing this, it’s become clear there are several reasons.
These include collecting personal data for targeted advertising purposes (by
Microsoft or their partners) as well as to gain a deeper understanding of how
their products are being put to use by their millions of users.
Privacy in the cloud
Windows 10, running under its default settings, is
clearly designed to learn as much about us as it can. The rapid spread of
cloud-based software-as-a-service platforms, such as Microsoft’s own Office 365
and Adobe’s Creative Suite, has introduced us all to the idea of software
providers gathering data on how we use their products. However integrating this
kind of monitoring into the core of the OS (Operating System) takes things to a
whole new level. We might have got used to the idea that our activity within
the container of a certain program or service is being analysed somewhere, by
someone, for some reason. But the fact that this level of scrutiny is now
applied to everything we do on our computers is causing many commentators and
online security experts to issue warnings.
Even the contents of your emails and documents stored in
private, offline folders can be subject to scrutiny and “disclosure” (to
unspecified parties), according to the wording of Microsoft’s privacy policies.
Of course, it’s quickly become apparent that this is why Microsoft, which has
traditionally charged users around $100 to upgrade to the latest version of
their OS has, in an uncharacteristic act of generosity, given it away for free.
$100 multiplied by the 14 million who updated in the first day alone is clearly
a lot of revenue for them to pass up on. However, while the strategical
soundness of some of Microsoft’s recent actions have been questioned, this was
far from a stupid move on their part. And there’s no such thing as a free
lunch. Of course Microsoft want payment for using their services, only this
time they are happy to take it in personal data rather than cash.
Personalised advertising profiles
One new concept users are becoming aware of is the
Personal Advertising ID. Every user on every installation of Windows 10 is
assigned one of these, and if you use other Microsoft devices such as a phone,
tablet or Xbox games console, your data will be scooped up from those too. By
default, details on every web site you visit, your physical location, every
command you type or speak to the computer and countless other data points are
recorded and uploaded to Microsoft. From there, they will be shared with
producers of apps you download and give permission to run on your system, as
well as advertisers. You will now even see adverts popping up in Windows
Solitaire!
It is possible, if you diligently check all of your
privacy settings, to make sure you are retaining some level of control over
what is sent to Microsoft and their partners. However, doing so will disable
some of the selling-point features of the new OS, such as Cortana, the
voice-driven, artificially intelligent personal assistant. Cortana will not
operate without access to your location and permission to transmit a lot of
other usage data back to Microsoft.
Essential updates
In the interests of fairness, it should be pointed out
that some of the changes Microsoft has made are sensible. For example
installation of critical security updates is now compulsory. While some updates
reportedly cause problems of their own, as long as they are programmed
correctly the principle here is sound. A huge amount of security breaches are
caused by users failing to apply critical updates in a timely manner. Microsoft
has now apparently backtracked on its decision to allow third party apps to
push updates without asking permission, and only essential security and OS
updates will be installed in this way.
It’s also fair to mention that none of this is specific
to Microsoft. Mobile computing is as popular, if not more so, than PC-based
computing these days, and both of the major mobile OS’s collect huge amounts of
data on our usage, and share it with their providers and partners. Perhaps
there is some psychological difference in our perception of what is acceptable
on a phone, and what is acceptable on a computer, but mobile data scooping has
generally caused less concern.
For me, there is one glaring lesson that we as users need
to take from this. Read your terms and conditions. Pretty much every computer
application we use these days – whether on computers, phones or wearables –
will collect data about us. It’s very easy to become numbed to the never-ending
pages of privacy policies we are urged to read through – by people who know
full well we probably won’t bother.
In this day and age – when we are expected to share
ever-increasing amounts of information, while at the same time large scale data
thefts and breaches are taking place at an ever increasing rate – we can’t
afford to become complacent.
If you’re concerned about the security of your personal
data (and of course you should be) then several good guides have been written
which go into detail about what settings you should change to make sure
everything is locked down as tightly as is currently possible – this one http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/windows-10-doesnt-offer-much-privacy-by-default-heres-how-to-fix-it/
, and this one http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/the-windows-10-privacy-settings-you-need-to-change-right-now-1301257 for example.
We are becoming more and more used to sacrificing privacy
for convenience, features, ease of use and, of course, “free” things. But we
can’t afford to become complacent.
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