Microsoft & privacy

[PersonSP]

So, I got free Office 365 thanks to school. Sounds great, right? Well, when I opened word it asked me to agree to a Privacy Policy. That seemed kind f weird to me, so I clicked it. And I spent some tine reading it and it definitely creeps me out. Microsoft basically states it's free to collect/sell/retain/use any data. ANY data. Which also means voice recordings, email messages, whatever is in your word documents, the name of your favourite sportsteam... They simply build a profile to determine exactly who you are and what you think. And not just for ' improving their services' but they also openly sate they might just sell that. Call me paranoid but I don't like that at all. So I deleted office 365.

Now my question to you is what do you think?

Read the policy here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement/default.aspx

 

[Tho]

So, I got free Office 365 thanks to school. Sounds great, right? Well, when I opened word it asked me to agree to a Privacy Policy. That seemed kind f weird to me, so I clicked it. And I spent some tine reading it and it definitely creeps me out. Microsoft basically states it's free to collect/sell/retain/use any data. ANY data. Which also means voice recordings, email messages, whatever is in your word documents, the name of your favourite sportsteam... They simply build a profile to determine exactly who you are and what you think. And not just for ' improving their services' but they also openly sate they might just sell that. Call me paranoid but I don't like that at all. So I deleted office 365.

Now my question to you is what do you think?

Read the policy here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement/default.aspx

First of all, you are being paranoid, the data they collect is not as private as you'd think and the distribution of it to a third party happens basically anonymously, no one sees your name, emails, etc., but they do get all your system's information like hardware, what updates you have, what programs or pages you visit the most (only Microsoft related though), etc.. It's not like they are stalking you every time you are online and sending all your emails to others. Still, in those "rules", let's call them that, there are way too many loopholes intentionally to allow Microsoft to do whatever they want, but they won't try something because of the matter of trust, so, while they have the leeway, they won't use. The entire thing is supposed to help with future products and company development, but in my opinion it's completely useless (because of this it's hard to activate bootleg windows). Also, while the above is their excuse for doing it, for more than 12 years we've been giving feedback i-on Internet Explorer and you have probably seen how bad it still is.

 

[PersonSP]

First of all, you are being paranoid, the data they collect is not as private as you'd think and the distribution of it to a third party happens basically anonymously, no one sees your name, emails, etc., but they do get all your system's information like hardware, what updates you have, what programs or pages you visit the most (only Microsoft related though), etc.. It's not like they are stalking you every time you are online and sending all your emails to others. Still, in those "rules", let's call them that, there are way too many loopholes intentionally to allow Microsoft to do whatever they want, but they won't try something because of the matter of trust, so, while they have the leeway, they won't use. The entire thing is supposed to help with future products and company development, but in my opinion it's completely useless (because of this it's hard to activate bootleg windows). Also, while the above is their excuse for doing it, for more than 12 years we've been giving feedback i-on Internet Explorer and you have probably seen how bad it still is.

Yeah, except they read the emails of journalists and disclosed them with names. Which is quite disturbing to me. (Of course I'm being paranoid, but quoting Nirvana "Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you.")

 

[Jeff The Killer]

It's okay to be paranoid (I am the same way, after learning that people can hack into webcams and watch you when your cam/computer is off is why I blotted mine out and covered it up) paranoid folks are always prepared.

But hearing/reading what you said is a bit creepy. Sure they may not delve into photos or what not but that's what they say we can't trust the people who work there.

That's why I hate sites that ask too much information like what's your mom's name, where do you live, how old is your dog, which apples do you prefer?

It's just uncomfortable.

 

[Tho]

Yeah, except they read the emails of journalists and disclosed them with names. Which is quite disturbing to me. (Of course I'm being paranoid, but quoting Nirvana "Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you.")

Those emails were probably send to Microsoft by the journalists themselves, as even with the privacy statement, they can't legally read private emails. However, it's still possible for things to leak (emails, information, etc.).
PS: About the Nirvana quote, watch the movie called "Red". Also, watch the South Park episode Human CentiPad (season 15, episode 1) and you will see that you are partially right to be afraid.

It's okay to be paranoid (I am the same way, after learning that people can hack into webcams and watch you when your cam/computer is off is why I blotted mine out and covered it up) paranoid folks are always prepared.

But hearing/reading what you said is a bit creepy. Sure they may not delve into photos or what not but that's what they say we can't trust the people who work there.

That's why I hate sites that ask too much information like what's your mom's name, where do you live, how old is your dog, which apples do you prefer?

It's just uncomfortable.

First off, I don't even want to start with all the BS you see in spy and hacking movies, but it's IMPOSSIBLE to use the camera without the computer being on. Camera needs a driver to function and drivers can only load AFTER an Operating System is already running. Since it uses a USB port for data transfer and power supply, while the first only requires the BIOS to be running and the second is always active, there is a third variable that is required, internet connection. So, we have USB always running, data transfer (still no video without the driver) and internet needing BIOS to have booted up, and finally load the drivers then video function after the Operating System has booted up. Do you see the improbability of it happening now? They can only do do something after the BIOS boot up, but unless the OS loads too, the most they can do is switch the power on your webcam on / off.

This is an answer to both of you, so just read carefully.
Now, on to the next point of discussion. Microsoft has a background services running on all Windows computers (Win 7, 8, 8.1, 10) called "Application Experience", "Application Layer Gateway Service", "Application Identity", "Application Management", "Background Intelligent Transfer Service", "Certificate Propagation", and some others for earlier Windows versions (Vista, XP, etc.). The services listed above are all the services Microsoft uses to collect data from your computer, so judging by how scared you are of the big corporations (this is a reference and a joke in case you didn't get it), you probably will want to deactivate those. Here's what to do:
1) Go to Start and in the search box type "msconfig"
2) Go to the tab labeled as "Services" and sort them by "Manufacturer"
3) They probably are shown as "Stopped" in the last column, but that is just their current state, regardless, uncheck the small boxes next to their names
4) Hit apply changes then close the tab
5) Restart your computer if any were running at the time of disablement
There are also many other processes in the list that sound suspicious, but they are just like that because of their names or they are processes intended for older Windows versions and are no longer able to run (not even in compatibility mode = completely harmless).

 

[PersonSP]

Those emails were probably send to Microsoft by the journalists themselves, as even with the privacy statement, they can't legally read private emails. However, it's still possible for things to leak (emails, information, etc.).
PS: About the Nirvana quote, watch the movie called "Red". Also, watch the South Park episode Human CentiPad (season 15, episode 1) and you will see that you are partially right to be afraid.



First off, I don't even want to start with all the BS you see in spy and hacking movies, but it's IMPOSSIBLE to use the camera without the computer being on. Camera needs a driver to function and drivers can only load AFTER an Operating System is already running. Since it uses a USB port for data transfer and power supply, while the first only requires the BIOS to be running and the second is always active, there is a third variable that is required, internet connection. So, we have USB always running, data transfer (still no video without the driver) and internet needing BIOS to have booted up, and finally load the drivers then video function after the Operating System has booted up. Do you see the improbability of it happening now? They can only do do something after the BIOS boot up, but unless the OS loads too, the most they can do is switch the power on your webcam on / off.

This is an answer to both of you, so just read carefully.
Now, on to the next point of discussion. Microsoft has a background services running on all Windows computers (Win 7, 8, 8.1, 10) called "Application Experience", "Application Layer Gateway Service", "Application Identity", "Application Management", "Background Intelligent Transfer Service", "Certificate Propagation", and some others for earlier Windows versions (Vista, XP, etc.). The services listed above are all the services Microsoft uses to collect data from your computer, so judging by how scared you are of the big corporations (this is a reference and a joke in case you didn't get it), you probably will want to deactivate those. Here's what to do:
1) Go to Start and in the search box type "msconfig"
2) Go to the tab labeled as "Services" and sort them by "Manufacturer"
3) They probably are shown as "Stopped" in the last column, but that is just their current state, regardless, uncheck the small boxes next to their names
4) Hit apply changes then close the tab
5) Restart your computer if any were running at the time of disablement
There are also many other processes in the list that sound suspicious, but they are just like that because of their names or they are processes intended for older Windows versions and are no longer able to run (not even in compatibility mode = completely harmless).

Thanks! That's a really usefull guide. How do you even know all that?

 

[Tho]

Read my profile, you will understand a LOT!

 

[PersonSP]

Read my profile, you will understand a LOT!

Okay, jup, that helped. Sounds lik you can tell me a whole lot about computers. (I can tell a lot about traveling, visted around 30 countries (not entirely sure how many) and still counting! Sounds like a fair trade right?)

 

[Tho]

Okay, jup, that helped. Sounds lik you can tell me a whole lot about computers. (I can tell a lot about traveling, visted around 30 countries (not entirely sure how many) and still counting! Sounds like a fair trade right?)

Fair enough.