Microsoft just proved themselves to be one of the most ignorant, imbecilic companies ever...

NKato

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Apr 25, 2014
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NKato
To speak to the "spying" Microsoft does to users, we have essentially asked for a lot of it. We want certain things on our PCs to be easier to do. Searching for the best restaurants in our area, find local weather, get alerts when friends or family are near us. We want, want, want, but when they give us what we are looking for, we cry about the invasion of privacy.

I'm not saying all of us have asked for this, but the consumer market has.

Should Microsoft been more up front with the whys and hows, sure. Should they have made it easier to turn on or off alot of the features. Yes. I'm not completely defending them for 10. But maybe we should look in the mirror before we go on a witch hunt. Maybe, just maybe, we should look at the market and see what the vast majority of consumers are asking for. Microsoft is in the business of making money, not creating software for the 10% that appear to be wearing tinfoil hats to the rest of the market.
I don't represent the average user market. I represent the power-users, or at least a segment of them. I prefer to have an OS that I can tailor to my preferences, rather than have it automate the experience. There is nothing far more alien to me than having something adjust itself to me, and completely fuck it up while doing so.
 

Soven Taliesyn

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Aug 27, 2015
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Soven-Taliesyn
I don't usually tell people they are wrong about something. Who am I to say!
But please don't use this argument, it does not stand.
Please review this wiki on the subject.
You may agree that all your government policies, rules and regulations are correct, not everyone does. A reasonable ability to stand against tyranny should always be maintained. Your government doesn't necessarily have your best interests at heart.
Data can be manipulated and presented in a number of ways. Not all will show you in a good light, no matter how much of a good citizen you are.
Not a personal attack, just think of it as a right, not a privilege.


Edit: example: British PM, David Cameron wants to ban encryption.... I...I just...I don't... he...what?!....how the ....urghhh.

Edit: This is not Kronos! Innocent until proven guilty. Not guilty till proven innocent by going through all my personal shit.
Haha, I never said it was a great point. Just that it is one. Even though digital information can easily be manipulated doesn't mean it always will. I'm all for right to privacy. But just because I don't agree with something it doesn't mean I'm going to go rising to the first conspiracy theory store I see and stock up on tinfoil hats and books of theory and propaganda. All I'm saying is that sometimes theories are just that, theories. Even if all these conspiracy theories are true, the fact is that the government's have the control. So instead of stocking up on tinfoil hats, time and money might better be spent stocking up on lube.

Chances are, we the average Joe will have nothing to worry about and continue on with our tiny specs of existence.
 
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o-BHG-o

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Mar 25, 2014
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o-BHG-o
Haha, I never said it was a great point. Just that it is one. Even though digital information can easily be manipulated doesn't mean it always will. I'm all for right to privacy. But just because I don't agree with something it doesn't mean I'm going to go rising to the first conspiracy theory store I see and stock up on tinfoil hats and books of theory and propaganda. All I'm saying is that sometimes theories are just that, theories. Even if all these conspiracy theories are true, the fact is that the government's have the control. So instead of stocking up on tinfoil hats, time and money might better be spent stocking up on lube.

Chances are, we the average Joe will have nothing to worry about and continue on with our tiny specs of existence.
I get what you're saying, I jumped on your point as a springboard for a rant :)
I understand it doesn't seem to affect the average Joe. There's pro's and con's for sure.
I'll admit I'm wildy against it, I am however, also an average joe with nothing to hide.
Tin hat jokes aside, the leaked documents and data in recent times help filter the theory from the nonsense.
 
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Space Monkey

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Feb 21, 2015
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TL;DR - Watch more illegal porn.

I love how if someone has a valid concern it is the norm now for it to be a tin foil hat theory. If you have a counterpoint I would rather hear than.

The fact that large companies like Microsoft caters to "what we want" as consumers is undeniable but there are many ways Microsoft could have implemented and catered to that demand. I don't have a problem with Google or Facebook collecting that information because it is an on-demand service and what they collect is somewhat limited. I can turn off a webservice. If I don't want to share something I don't. Personally, I don't use Facebook not for any particular tin-foily reason other than it doesn't add anything substancial to my life. If I want to contact my friends, I do use other means. Don't get me wrong though, I've used it, it was a fad and I'm over it.

The issue with Windows 10 is that it doesn't turn off its "helping" you. Moreover, if I want to use mordern programs like Creative Suite, Quickbooks, AutoCAD, ArcGIS, or most modern games, I have to subject myself to what essentially amounts to forced "search and seizure". I hate to break out big words like the US Government especially in a tin-foil conversation but Government contracts are a huge payday for Microsoft and other large companies and if that government feels it should have backdoors and ways to collect information from every user, hypothetically, Microsoft will ablige. This has little to do with legalities or ethics or unconstitutionality. Technologically, the information can be collected and used and it is. It just isn't admissible in court, or if it is, you can't see it in open court for "national security" reasons.
This happened with ATT. They couldn't do it fast enough. http://www.wired.com/2015/08/know-nsa-atts-spying-pact/

My biggest concern with this whole thing is that somehow we should expect and be grateful to have someone like Microsoft or anyone that buys the information they collect looking over our shoulder. I don't care for it. This does not automatically make me a criminal just because I like my privacy.

Just being pragmatic, this sort of blanket surveillance policy has never ever ever ever been a benefit to the population subjected to it. Most often than not, this sort policy du jour has been dubbed highly unethical because it allows for specific people and populations to be harrassed and adversly affected and these policies have subsequently been made illegal with huge backlash. If you want any examples of this, I'd like to throw out a few big word examples like Cointelpro, Soviet Union, McCarthyism, East Germany, Morocco in the 50s. This type of policy is certainly not new even if the technology is. This has been governments biggest wet dream forever. This will not save your life like on TV. Jack Bauer isn't a real person. Blanket surveillance policy have always been used to harass and control a population considered "unruly" by its current power structure.

Maybe you don't care though and it doesn't affect you or your amazon purchases or you're choice of porn (BTW streaming porn is most entirely illegal, so yeah I's a criminal) but man, perspective, there are other people it does affect.

Anyways, back to porn...
 

honcho12

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Oct 12, 2014
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I don't represent the average user market. I represent the power-users, or at least a segment of them. I prefer to have an OS that I can tailor to my preferences, rather than have it automate the experience. There is nothing far more alien to me than having something adjust itself to me, and completely fuck it up while doing so.
Nothing makes my blood boil like using backspace to go up a level, and I go back into the directory I was just in...
 

dubbzy

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Dec 23, 2014
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dubbzy104
Nothing makes my blood boil like using backspace to go up a level, and I go back into the directory I was just in...
With the mouse I used before my current one, the forward/backward buttons were mixed up, and I had no way to change it
 

ReconDelta

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Apr 29, 2015
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ReconDelta
Apple, IOS, and OSX does as much or more spying on the user. Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all the major websites monitor us on the Internet. Why such a big stink about W10?
 

Scarthian

The Shadow Broker
Feb 10, 2014
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Scarthian
TL;DR - Watch more illegal porn.

I love how if someone has a valid concern it is the norm now for it to be a tin foil hat theory. If you have a counterpoint I would rather hear than.

The fact that large companies like Microsoft caters to "what we want" as consumers is undeniable but there are many ways Microsoft could have implemented and catered to that demand. I don't have a problem with Google or Facebook collecting that information because it is an on-demand service and what they collect is somewhat limited. I can turn off a webservice. If I don't want to share something I don't. Personally, I don't use Facebook not for any particular tin-foily reason other than it doesn't add anything substancial to my life. If I want to contact my friends, I do use other means. Don't get me wrong though, I've used it, it was a fad and I'm over it.

The issue with Windows 10 is that it doesn't turn off its "helping" you. Moreover, if I want to use mordern programs like Creative Suite, Quickbooks, AutoCAD, ArcGIS, or most modern games, I have to subject myself to what essentially amounts to forced "search and seizure". I hate to break out big words like the US Government especially in a tin-foil conversation but Government contracts are a huge payday for Microsoft and other large companies and if that government feels it should have backdoors and ways to collect information from every user, hypothetically, Microsoft will ablige. This has little to do with legalities or ethics or unconstitutionality. Technologically, the information can be collected and used and it is. It just isn't admissible in court, or if it is, you can't see it in open court for "national security" reasons.
This happened with ATT. They couldn't do it fast enough. http://www.wired.com/2015/08/know-nsa-atts-spying-pact/

My biggest concern with this whole thing is that somehow we should expect and be grateful to have someone like Microsoft or anyone that buys the information they collect looking over our shoulder. I don't care for it. This does not automatically make me a criminal just because I like my privacy.

Just being pragmatic, this sort of blanket surveillance policy has never ever ever ever been a benefit to the population subjected to it. Most often than not, this sort policy du jour has been dubbed highly unethical because it allows for specific people and populations to be harrassed and adversly affected and these policies have subsequently been made illegal with huge backlash. If you want any examples of this, I'd like to throw out a few big word examples like Cointelpro, Soviet Union, McCarthyism, East Germany, Morocco in the 50s. This type of policy is certainly not new even if the technology is. This has been governments biggest wet dream forever. This will not save your life like on TV. Jack Bauer isn't a real person. Blanket surveillance policy have always been used to harass and control a population considered "unruly" by its current power structure.

Maybe you don't care though and it doesn't affect you or your amazon purchases or you're choice of porn (BTW streaming porn is most entirely illegal, so yeah I's a criminal) but man, perspective, there are other people it does affect.

Anyways, back to porn...
Yeah exactly why I clarified myself to further explain my stance rather than just being disregarded as some tin foil hat conspiracy nut. Especially considering there are real world present examples of stuff like this running wild.

Apple, IOS, and OSX does as much or more spying on the user. Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all the major websites monitor us on the Internet. Why such a big stink about W10?
Because as Space Monkey stated above Facebook, Google, Yahoo while major websites integrated into quite a bit of daily life you have a choice to not use them. There are plenty of alternative sites that you can use with similar if not that same functions. W10 is an OS that does this by default and while you may have options to reduce it a bit you cannot turn it off completely. Being that W10 is a main OS unless you use a different OS you can't exactly just switch using W10 like say instead of using Google using Duckduckgo or something. As for Apple I cannot comment as I have never had a need or want to pay the amount of money that they want for their products.
 
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thanatos73

Space Marshal
Nov 21, 2014
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thanatos1973
So, here's my 2 EUC....
My phone adapting to the way I use it, fine. I have a Moto X, that was one of the selling points. Hell, I just did a factory reset on it, and I am still annoyed that I have to start Pandora when it connects to the car stereo. It used to do this automagically. My laptop, eh, I don't do anything major on it, so whatever. It's running Windows 10, and still getting the Fast Ring builds, so, fine, collect all the usage data you want. My desktop, STAY THE HELL OUT!!!!!! Your metrics collection is not going to do me any good. There isn't another PC like it on the planet, I mean really, who pairs a FX9590 with a R9-270X? and uses a 1TB off the shelf drive with a 2TB drive that was pulled out of a portable? NO-ONE!! My desktop is home grown, hand built, and custom to the core, so my specs and stuff will not do you any good. I don't surf the web with it, I don't even watch porn on it, it is for GAMING! So, why should I have to spend the better part of a weekend tracking down all the switches, check boxes, and opt-outs just to get the thing to run better than the old OS? The only reason it is connected to the Internet at all is for gaming, oh, and watching streams, but my mountain internet is slow, and usually sucks, so all this background info shuffling is making it worse. I know that most of the people on the planet have NO idea how to build a PC, nor do they care. They will just go buy an overpriced piece of junk from some big named manufacturer, that is just like the cookie cutter PC the guy next door has. Collect his info, he ain't doing anything with it, and he sure as hell doesn't want to know how to do half of the stuff his PC will now do for him. Just do us Power users and up a favor, stop hiding all the crap we want to turn off, so we can get back to flying our collective Bangel Carriers into the collective suns.

OK, rant over.....
 
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