Also i´m going to link to a post i made on a diffrent topic about windows10 privacy in the past.
And i still feel the same way about it.
https://forum.teksyndicate.com/t/i-am-scared-of-windows-10/97929/17
unless you've never entered any of that information onto any website. ever. ? lol
The only thing I'd add is that tracking and targeted ads are based on browser history and cookies (which you have control over) when it comes to Windows it is "local" based on everything you do, say, watch, type, and store on your local computer, that is a huge difference from tracking based on browser usage. Never before in computing history have users had to be concern with what they did or housed on a "local / personal" computer, WinX has changed that and brought spying right into your home.....I'm really surprised people are so quick to dismiss the intrusion into our personal space and equipment, it makes me wonder just where you folks will draw the line and say NO?
But other than that I do agree with your statement.
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Yeah, but those websites don't log your every key stroke, send every file you transfer back home, and aren't the basis for your entire user experience and you can opt out of those if you truly want to by not using their service and using another. Their methods can be blocked if you want through means such as adblockers, not allowing cookies, using a VPN, by not uploading every goddamn picture of your life, etc.
In reality you can choose another OS and nobody is forcing you to use windows either, but if your OS is comprimised literally nowhere you go can be safe, even the sites that dont log your data. You have no choice to keep your data safe while using windows because they always have control to the on/off switch and there's not a damn thing you can actually do about it that is truly in your power within the OS itself. They have the technology in place to decide whether or not you can run programs or not, such that you do not control your machine at all if they decide to abuse that later. Yes you could argue that there are comprimises at an even lower level in the CPU hardware if you have Intel (and I think there's something similar in AMD, but not really sure), but we shouldn't just go "op, welp, they got acccess to everything guess I should never expect privacy because I'm a product in the corporate dystopia now and that's that."
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Aside from the fact that I consider this kind of scenario unlikely enough to never worry about it, I'm not worth impersonating.
As I said, I don't like the fact that they get my data, but the probability of it affecting my life directly is less than that of me winning a lottery.
As far as windows vs linux goes, I'd take orwellian surveillance over using desktop linux any day, at least right now.
This is a very good point.
I am amazed as well but the reason i think is that most people that argue that they do not care, preferring what ever convenience they get by using sth familiar make two basic mistakes:
They completely underestimate the significance that the knowledge of constant surveillance (even just to targeted ads that look harmless at the surface) can change individual behavior, and on a second level collective social behavior.
The knowledge of always being watched gradually makes you more passive, more cautious and less radical in your reactions. It makes you less capable and less willing to question what is established around you. It pushes you more to abide by the laws around you. Whether the laws are fair and democratic is irrelevant to the effect.
As an extension most ppl in relatively more democratic western countries cannot really imagine themselves living under a hostile orwellian state within their lifetimes, thus do not really acknowledge the potential future danger that such a breach in privacy may have. Social struggle to retain your basic and essential rights looks a distant possibility. Just sth you watch on the news about far away countries. Even though that would be a very narrow minded way of looking at history and perhaps a very delusional way of looking at the present.
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Yes i totaly agree on that.
Like i pointed out in my additional post about the things i dont like about it.
Windows 10 does great things, but it is the fact that they are taking control away from the user when they want control.
If you have a credit card or a valid US citizenship you can bet your ass you're worth impersonating.
Hell you don't even have to be using Windows 10 yourself, if some important business or government agency is using it and ends up comprised you're just as vulnerable, but that admittedly goes beyond just Windows 10. Business espionage is totally a thing though.
Well at least i am partly there. :)
Mind if i add this to my list of how to make windows not suck. ?
This ^^^^^^ and it is that fact that scares the hell out of me for the generation that is just growing up, once all of the people who question authority have died off, what will be left is literally sheep ripe for slaughter, at some point we have to draw a line and say no or we will live and die under the control and observation of others.
I know that is very far from the scope of computer usage but it is just one more step or increment in building a society without choice, one without freedom, and one where every aspect of your life is under the control of someone other then yourself, it starts somewhere and what better place than right in your home on your very PC that you purchased, seems innocent enough, who cares about a little data collection, I have nothing to hide, doesn't effect me one bit....yeah right.
But hey! I never take off my tinfoil hat and I'm sure it is effecting my thought process. lol
Staying on topic with the OPs question.....my opinion is don't use it, it just isn't worth the risk or encouragement to MS to spy and take more control over your data which they will do if left unchecked.
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I think what scares me alittle more is the way ms had enlisted the help of some very common software to help with the data mining they are trying to do. Common software that most people will use. So even if you do manage to lock down the os somewhat, every piece of software is an added risk. Antiviruse's that are collecting data and moving it to the cloud ect..
without your knowledge or consent. ( with your consent or you can't use something that has been free for while ) Yes ? I am talking about Avast for example. Anything that is taking data from your pc and moving it to the cloud is spying on you. Once your data gets away from your pc, you have no control of it. It will be mined and sold to the highest bidder. This whole cloud thing is almost evil beyond compare. It is a system and not just one software product. Opinions of an idiot :)
sadly i STILL CANT DISABLE WINDOW CASCADE!!!!!!
I think that most people are not aware of the data collection. Most of the people I deal with are probably below average in technical abilities, so that could be why I get the impression.
However, the majority of non-technical people wouldn't believe you if you told them this stuff either. One lady made a joke about the government having all her email yesterday and when I told her it was probably true, she looked at me like I was a raving lunatic eating his own feces.
Normal people can't understand how the data is collected so they don't really believe it or something. They trust products that work the way they want them to. They are happy if they can just get the computer to do... anything. If it works, they don't care how or why, they just think its great. If you tell them why it's terrible it goes in one ear and out the other. That's the only reason Microsatan gets away with anything.
I have never heard anyone complain about the data collection outside of online nerd communities. No one really knows or cares. The only complaints I get are that it doesn't work or it installed by itself. These two problems really boil down to: "I'm an idiot who always clicks 'OK'" and "I can't figure out how to use it because the interface looks slightly different."
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You CAN disable all tracking. I don't know what you people are smoking. There was even that program that Barnacules talked about that you can use to see all the connections that your PC makes. Mine makes 0 connections to MS servers unless it's updating, which is also something that it doesn't do automatically if you use the local group policy editor tweak. Maybe it's just me. Maybe Microsoft by default doesn't collect data from my country because they consider us useless, which is pretty much true. Sometimes living in a small country that no one cares about can be a huge plus.
anti-beacon is good...Its not full-proof and Barnacules himself mentions that. And very few ppl will do registry hacks to make sure they do not have automatic updates..
New addresses to phone home can be added at any time with no trouble...
I see way more questioning of authority from current generation than previous ones.
I also disagree with the assertion that people being aware of digital surveillance changes their behavior. Maybe that's the case for you, but don't project this onto everyone else.
There are phycological studies that study the effect. Its not his opinion.
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That may be true (I'm sure you were not alive during the 60's and 70's), but it's the topics that are in question today that make the difference, mostly today the things that are in question are social issues that really are just whiny spoiled brats wanting a continuation of the coddling that their parents have given them all of their lives, which is why we have SJW's on most collage campuses.
You see the things that need to be questioned are ignored and the issues that really can't be meaningfully changed are questioned like racism, you can get society to hide their racism but you can not abolish the thought, trying to do so is futile, this may just be my observation but more than just I have that opinion. We have a government that is totally out of control, unfettered wholesale spying on US citizens, police agencies that are basically accountable to no one and are rarely found guilty of crimes because of a corrupt judicial system, treaties are signed and deals made on our behalf by our government with no public input and in fact if you bitch you are considered anti-social, anti-globalism, or any other anti- you want to fill in the blank with.
We have a debt beyond any hope of repayment but yet some folks see no problem with being broke as a country and in fact want all the free stuff like collage, healthcare, a living wage, you name it....just give me free stuff and we don't care how it's paid for. There is a lot more but I think you get the point that worrying about safe spaces or how a gender or ethic, sexual orientated, or transgender person is treated or uses any bathroom they feel like becomes very trivial issues and almost laughable that any serious amount of a persons time spent working to fix a perceived wrong might be admirable but as a society we have much bigger fish to fry and more important things to be concern with.
The one thing I will give the young people who are questioning things is that they are on the right track, get involved, make your voice heard, gather like minded and protest, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease and in this case gets the attention, but for gods sake pick a cause that isn't defined by sex, religious belief, ethnicity, or really any gender issues because while they may seem important at the time they are just a diversion to keep you busy and take your interest from the topics that should be pissing you off.
Sorry to the OP for being off topic and hijacking the thread, I know there are better places for my post that would be on topic...
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