Windows 10 as I’ve noted previously has some really bad privacy related issues. But in an interview with PC World, Microsoft corporate vice president Joe Belfiore actually defended this rather intrusive collection of data that has generated so much negative press:
Windows 10 also currently requires that all users hand over some information about how their devices are being used — what Microsoft calls basic telemetry. That information relates to things like when and how Windows 10 crashes, and Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore said in an interview that the company needs that information to improve the experience of using its operating system.
“And in the case of knowing that our system that we’ve created is crashing, or is having serious performance problems, we view that as so helpful to the ecosystem, and so not an issue of personal privacy, that today, we collect that data so that we make that experience better for everyone,” he said.
In Belfiore’s view, Microsoft’s current setup properly addresses users’ privacy concerns, since it lets them opt out of the collection of personal information. For those tracking features that users can’t opt out of, he said the company doesn’t consider them to be a privacy issue.
“And in the cases where we’ve not provided options, we feel that those things have to do with the health of the system, and are not personal information or are not related to privacy,” he said.
So basically what Microsoft is saying is “trust us, this data collection is for your own good.” Sorry, you’ll excuse me if I don’t buy that. Corporate users clearly didn’t which is why Microsoft allows Windows 10 Enterprise users to disable all data collection including telemetry data. But interestingly, the folks in Redmond don’t recommend that the average Joe do that. One has to wonder why….
Does any of this have you freaked out? Or is this much ado about nothing? Chime in via the comments section below.
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This entry was posted on November 5, 2015 at 11:39 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Windows 10 Data Colleciton Is For Your Own Good Says Microsoft
Windows 10 as I’ve noted previously has some really bad privacy related issues. But in an interview with PC World, Microsoft corporate vice president Joe Belfiore actually defended this rather intrusive collection of data that has generated so much negative press:
Windows 10 also currently requires that all users hand over some information about how their devices are being used — what Microsoft calls basic telemetry. That information relates to things like when and how Windows 10 crashes, and Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore said in an interview that the company needs that information to improve the experience of using its operating system.
“And in the case of knowing that our system that we’ve created is crashing, or is having serious performance problems, we view that as so helpful to the ecosystem, and so not an issue of personal privacy, that today, we collect that data so that we make that experience better for everyone,” he said.
In Belfiore’s view, Microsoft’s current setup properly addresses users’ privacy concerns, since it lets them opt out of the collection of personal information. For those tracking features that users can’t opt out of, he said the company doesn’t consider them to be a privacy issue.
“And in the cases where we’ve not provided options, we feel that those things have to do with the health of the system, and are not personal information or are not related to privacy,” he said.
So basically what Microsoft is saying is “trust us, this data collection is for your own good.” Sorry, you’ll excuse me if I don’t buy that. Corporate users clearly didn’t which is why Microsoft allows Windows 10 Enterprise users to disable all data collection including telemetry data. But interestingly, the folks in Redmond don’t recommend that the average Joe do that. One has to wonder why….
Does any of this have you freaked out? Or is this much ado about nothing? Chime in via the comments section below.
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This entry was posted on November 5, 2015 at 11:39 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.