Re: CAN you REALLY turn off those features?
Wireshark is your friend...
Not when it's encrypted, and the results are transmitted in burst mode or encapsulated in other traffic (to name but a few camouflage techniques used in high grade bugging kit). There are many ways to cloak traffic.
It's not that I deem MS itself capable of writing decent enough code for that to work, but there is plenty of help for the willing. In addition, they can push this in or out with rolling upgrades, so every patch could change the signature of the traffic.
Best of all (from MS/NSA perspective), you legalised this with the EULA. No more pesky lawsuits...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
