Now’s your chance to try Microsoft’s controversial Windows Recall ... maybe

Microsoft has initiated a limited public preview of its Windows Recall system – about six months after its unveiling sparked backlash over privacy and security concerns. As you may recall, Recall is an application designed for Copilot+ PCs that takes a snapshot of a user's active screen every few seconds and stores them …

[Doctor Syntax]

Because it's there I can envisage the private owner with more enthusiasm than knowledge discovering it, turning it on without blocking anything. Why not go a step further, remove it and leave the user to add it on? That done it would be more likely that it would only be installed and active for those use cases, whatever they might be, that actually require it.

[Pascal Monett]

Yeah, but that would violate Redmond's Golden Rule : never let the user think for himself.

[CowHorseFrog]

Its not Redmonds rule, its America's rule. All that flag waving .... i wont finish the sentence...

[LBJsPNS]

And leave all that user data on the table? Are you barking mad?

[the GCHRD]

Oh where, oh where, may the law makers be?

With appropriately written T&C this will be the largest on going acquisition of real world AI training data, since they vacuumed up the entire Internet.

Wealth capable of challenging governments

Concentrated power without a democratic mandate

Entry level expenses so high, only the richest can play the game

Unprecedented speed of development

A demonstrated lack of regard for existing rights or regulations

A complete absence of regulatory initiative

and now access to every real time human activity through immanent product deployments in phones and computers and cars

Cheers to 2024. The first full year 1.5 degrees Celsius over climate norms.

time to BOAKYAG

[Anonymous Coward]

Recall is a Law Enforcement wet dream

And opposing councils as well, if you ever get sued. Enough said.

[ecofeco]

Chance?

And I would self inflict pain, why?

[A Long Fellow]

Seems something's semantic somewhere

"Microsoft promises that sensitive material like passwords and other personal data won't be stored..."

How does it know if it's not reading the screen? And I don't now how much "AI" is happening, but I can't imagine that Recall _can_ know what my "personal data" is unless -- in some sense -- it knows what my personal data is.

And is it only _my_ personal data that Recall will ignore? Or will it also ignore an email in which I tell my cousin about the login I set up for my nephew's computer?

So either there's a lot of untruth and/ or Recall is even more invasive than they're admitting.

[xanadu42]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

Agreed, precisely what is meant by "sensitive material"?

If a computer user searches for information related to a minority group or a medical procedure (only two examples of way too many to list) that is "illegal" in their region will Recall not record it?

For example, and only considering the USA: a trans person or a pregnant woman seeking medical information...

Will Recall not record such "sensitive material" on a state-by-state basis in the USA?

And what about countries where a person searching for "sensitive material" may be put to death because of same?

Will Recall not record such "sensitive material" on a country-by-country basis?

Micro$oft's statements appear extremely disingenuous

[Benegesserict Cumbersomberbatch]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

And let's add to all of those good reasons for mistrust of this misfeature: it's an AI algorithm. Even it's authors can't be sure of its decision-making processes.

You tell me it's not going to slurp my confidential data, I say prove it.

[ITMA]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

"Agreed, precisely what is meant by 'sensitive material'?"

I would wager that Microsoft's definition of "sensitive material" which it won't scan/record is anything it can't find a way to monetise and/or sell. So not worth bothering with.

Anything else is fair game.

[seven of five]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

Oh, I have an EXCELLENT Idea. From now on, my password will be "BigBlackTransGenderMidgetPr0nAndBaitcoinInvestmentAdviceForCOvertCommunistAgentsInUSA"

...this is going to be good

[ITMA]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

You've copied that from me! Bar steward! :)

[seven of five]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

Impossible - it is multi-offensive, no one would dare.

We just think along the same lines. So lets have the steward fetch a few cold ones :P

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Seems something's semantic somewhere

"Microsoft promises that sensitive material like passwords and other personal data won't be stored..."

Hmm ...

Microsoft? Promises?

WhatTheHolyFuck?

It is early saturday morning and on reading this almost choked on my espresso.

I'll be blunt so that I get the right idea across:

----> Utter bullshit.

At this stage of MS' 30+ year old game, I find it absolutely unbelievable that this type of crap is even discussed by anyone with a modicum of common sense.

If not with a few years of experience with MS software.

Whoever gets screwed by this Reacll crap deserves it.

.

[dangerous race]

Promises

Can we add this promise to the others?

The cheque is in the post.

I promise not to happen in your mouth.

Windows 98 is over 25% faster

[chuckufarley]

I tried on my openSuse desktop...

...I just installed a key logger and set the first cron job to make a screen capture to every 5 seconds, made sure the time stamps were correctly synced, fed all the data into koboldcpp with a 'simple' bash pipe chain, and finally set a second cron job to upload the results to Microsoft every hour. I was not impressed.

[Mentat74]

Will there be an option for 'politician mode' in this software ?

"I do not recall"...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Microshaft

Rearrange these words into a well known phrase or saying:

Off Fuck.

[navarac]

Re: Dear Microshaft

I know I'm only one person, and I know others cannot follow suit for many reasons, but.....

I have used Dos and Windows since the dawn of the PC. I have been fairly happy most of the time (don't mention Windows 8) just getting on with tasks needed. However, Windows 11, and especially Recall, has made me dump "everything" produced by Microsoft. Sad really, but since moving to another OS (not fruit flavoured), I don't feel that I am being ripped off, gouged and generally annoyed anymore. Unfortunately the likes of Google needs to be dumped, all Social Media as well, and as for the Ads on YT; don't even get me started. The whole technology industry has got totally out of hand, driven by idiots who are chasing the last bit of cash in the universe, and stuff the consequences.

[Andy Non]

"Chance to try..."

Heroin,

DIY brain surgery,

Swimming with piranhas,

Microsoft Recall,

Nah, I'll give them all a miss, thanks for the offer.

[jonathan keith]

Re: "Chance to try..."

Heroin's the only one of those four that's very moreish.

[JWLong]

Let the Games.............

..............Begin..............

[hitmouse]

Given how willingly people allow their data, passwords and other private information to be given to random online systems - not to mention putting sensitive corporate data into ChatGPT etc -, I am quite happy to support a serious attempt to enable private local-only storage and processing.

If you want a digital personal private secretary then how would other readers proceed?

.

[CowHorseFrog]

Might aswell give up with passwords and https, since everyone is just letting AI read everything anyway.

[O'Reg Inalsin]

Do you swear, under penalty of perjury,

to be an IT administrator for work or school? Liars will be monitored.

[The Dogs Meevonks]

This is the bit that people should be really worried about

"Meanwhile, "Recall is removed by default on PCs managed by an IT administrator for work or school, as well as Enterprise versions of Windows 11," Redmond noted."

Because that means they'll be forcing it on everyone else without your permission or consent.

MS inserted copilot onto my system the other day, without permission or consent... it was immediately uninstalled, but they'll do it again and again until they are forced to stop...

It's time to legislate against data harvesting and make it punishable with criminal charges and jail time. I'm tired of being used as a product, I'm tired of my very existence being seen as a means for a tiny few to make money from

[Anonymous Coward]

... but they'll do it again and again ...

Of course, it has always been so with MS.

... until they are forced to stop ...

Uh ... No.

That won't happen.

Do you have any idea just how much moolah and political heft is actually involved?

No, they won't *be forced* to stop so don't get your hopes up.

ie: don't be so daft.

*You* will force them to stop when you get off the MS bandwagon.

ie: when *you* stop allowing them to (willing and knowingly) fuck you over at every turn.

But until then ...

.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

"Meanwhile, "Recall is removed by default on PCs managed by an IT administrator for work or school, as well as Enterprise versions of Windows 11," Redmond noted."

I knew there was a reason why I have a Windows AD domain at home.. Time to fire up the GP editor.

(Mind you, the only Windows device (other than some VMs on my Mac) is my wife's Dell laptop that she turns on every once in a while to browse Ravelry..

[Anonymous Coward]

Having worked through the PC revolution in both general knowledge work and programming, I find this 'solution' baffling. What good does a screen shot from an hour ago that shows a screen shot of my screen at that time do me? This is being presented in a way that implies it will take you back to the state of the machine and running progams at the past time, like a versioning system, but it does not do that. This is centralized surveillance at it's worst. Showing up at the same time as AI cores is all the more reason to see Win 11 as a major step away from independent and locally secure personal computing, and towards a glorified dumb terminal totally dependent and managed by a subscription based centralized computing.

[Locomotion69]

One way or another, MS is going to shuffle this recall thing through your throat.

Unless you step away from using MS products. All of them, as they will soon find a way to integrate recall in Office365 (if not already present).

I fear the moment that I discover that recall-agents are coming to your PC as a part of a .docx file....

[Reginald O.]

I don't recall...

I need this, why?

[Andy Non]

Re: I don't recall...

You don't, it isn't intended for your benefit, the data harvesting is for the benefit of MS down the line when they start saving the data in the cloud for your convenience. It is also a benefit to law enforcement to see what naughty stuff you've been up to. It is also a gold mine for hackers and a legal minefield if it saves data relating to any customer data you may be dealing with and likely in breach of GDPR. It is also intended to entertain technicians who you hand your computer to for repair - "yes mate, we need your login details to ensure we've got it working properly."

[spold]

Once let loose, hopefully the Court of Justice of the European Union, that handles privacy cases, will give them a special award for gross dumbfuckery, which comes with an appropriate fine of 4% of global turnover.

ChatGPT has refined the criteria for this this award and says:

The Golden "Who Thought This Was A Good Idea?" aka Dumbfuckery Award.

Presented to the individua/company whose actions have left us all questioning not just their judgment, but the very fabric of common sense.

Criteria:

Willfully ignoring basic safety and privacy rules.

Ignoring clear instructions with catastrophic results.

Making a decision that simultaneously defies logic, reason, and most known laws of physics.

Displaying a level of self-sabotage that goes beyond the realm of mere incompetence.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Quote

"Once let loose, hopefully the Court of Justice of the European Union, that handles privacy cases, will give them a special award for gross dumbfuckery, which comes with an appropriate fine of 4% of global turnover"

......After 16 yrs of legal wrangling/appeals/counter appeals. gotta keep those lawyers in a job.

[Missing Semicolon]

.. and then Microsoft will open a factory/big office in Germany, and the whole thing will be forgotten about.

Just ask Intel.

[Ashto5]

Gave me a chill when I first read about it

And my opinion has not changed