Microsoft backports data slurp to Windows 7 and 8 via patches We recently mused, half seriously, whether the entire point of the Windows 10 upgrade was to harvest your personal information. With Microsoft suffering from a serious case of Google envy, perhaps it felt it had some catching up to do. Now Microsoft is revamping the user-tracking tools in Windows 7 and 8 to harvest more data, …
Another question just occurred to me: Where do these three updates to Windows 7 and 8.1* leave those who install them, relative to those who have "upgraded" to Windows 10?
It strikes me that, immediately upon installing these three updates** — which make no provision for customization of privacy settings at all — users of these earlier versions of Windows might actually have less privacy and more exposure than someone who "upgraded" to Windows 10 but who opted for "Customise settings" during installation rather than "Express settings"! Presumably one would still not be subject to keystroke logging*** (nor would the Windows 10 user who chose "Customise settings" and then checked "No" during installation), but one would — or at least might — be more exposed to the risk of disclosure of personal information through memory snapshots.
Thinking about the matter some more, it occurs to me that the answer might depend on whether one has previously said "Yes" to Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). The newly installed spyware might start slurping one's data immediately, but it also might remain inactive so long as CEIP has not been activated. (And it may or may not activate CEIP itself, as part of its/the three updates' installation!)
So, does all this newly installed Windows 7/8.1 spyware lie dormant until CEIP is activated? Or does it start slurping users' data immediately? Does anybody here know the answer?
.
* And what about users of Windows 8?
** Whether unwittingly, as in my own case, or even wittingly.
*** "Telemetry" does not include the keystroke logging "feature", does it?
You have a good question, though the answer might be a matter of opinion.
Windows 10 does at least have the virtue of being up-front about the privacy settings (provided, of course, that you go looking).
On the other hand, the only permission available for Windows 7 is the CEIP opt-in. I can't remember whether it defaulted to IN or OUT, but I imagine Microsoft are targetting the millions of people who wouldn't have a clue what CEIP stands for and who happen to have it set to IN.
Pretty scummy really. When Windows 7 came out I imagine plenty of people who were aware of CEIP thought of it as a minor feature. Now of course it is anything but that, but Microsoft are happily extending the features that the Opt-in sanctions, without any indication to the user of what is happening.
I'm just wondering now when we're going to start seeing new optional updates for Vista. Gotta catch 'em all, after all.
@ JustaKOS
Of course the default for CEIP is opt-in ..... it is MS.:)
Win10 is a beta testing ground for MS to discover what they can get away with.
All they learn will be rolled out to Win7 & 8.
This is the new MS.
They are trying so hard to emulate the total control Apple have and by necessity the transition is brutal.
You all need to decide very soon which world you want to live in.
MS, Apple, Google or something else such as Linux.
Make your investigation, and an informed decision is possible.
Delay and prevaricate too long, you will be assimilated by one of them unless you fall back to the abacus and/or scratching in the sand with a stick.
Personal computing is all but gone and privacy is a inconvenient obstruction to profit.
Don't worry though you will get the digital equivalent of a bag of beads and some old blankets for your privacy, so well worth it :)
It looks like the primary offending update KB 3068708 is a Recommended update. I've always unchecked the "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" option in Windows Update since most of those updates tend to only hold some nice to have patch for some obscure HDD running on some other more obscure Motherboard. Great if you have that HDD and MB but I've never found anything in there of use.
That could all change if MS decide that updated spying^H^H^H customer experience telemetery is now an Important update...
Trying to out Google Google - I can only see that working as well as it did when they tried to out Apple Apple (Zune anyone?)
I took a few days to mull it over and dispassionately consider the pros and cons.
Then last Friday night I plugged a newly-created Ubuntu boot stick into my laptop, and without a moments' hesitation let it blow the Windows partition away, reformat, and install itself.
Five days on, I'm running nearly all my applications - still a few to re-install - either as native Linux versions or (for DVDFab) as a Wine cuckoo. Everything works.
Sure there's a learning curve ('sudo apt-what the heck? aargh quick Google') but on the whole I'm getting the hang of it. And importantly I feel like I'm in charge of my computer again.
>I'll trust Canonical over Microsoft. At least the former do ship the source code and it's a very small step from there to Debian if they do something nasty.
Hmmmm
Granted, not everyone has the inclination, opportunity or wherewithal to go Slackware/Arch/Gentoo/whatever. And those who don't have it need something reliable that isn't going to end up as abandonware, leaving them at the mercy of whatever 0-day exploits are discovered after the cessation of security updates.
So, yeah, of the three (Microshaft and Crapple included), Cannonical looks like the best of a bad lot, sure. But that's a bit like leaving an abusive relationship for a slightly less abusive relationship. And that never works out well either.
Do I want my left testicle wired up to a car battery?
The right?
What about the perineum instead?
How about "none of the above"?
How about one of the other non-*buntu derivatives?
OpenSUSE is pretty good from the little experience I've had of it*.
I've heard good things about PCLOS - same about Manjaro.
Devuan might be a runner in future.
If you suspect Debian might be a better solution in the long run then why wait until it's already too late to make the switch?
* Had to do some comparative study of Ubuntu/Fedora/SUSE recently - Glad I don't have to use them myself!!!
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