Windows 10 spies on
emails, images, credit cards, more
Software 'collecting data on much of what you do'
Americans are still waiting for a resolution to the
controversy that erupted when it was discovered that the National
Security Agency was spying on everyone’s telephones – lawsuits still are
pending and Congress is working on making changes to the law.
Now they’re learning that while the NSA was collecting telephone
data, the newest version of the ubiquitous Windows software, version 10, is
watching everything that’s on their computer.
“From the moment an account is created, Microsoft begins watching. The
company saves customers’ basic information – name, contact details, passwords,
demographic data and credit card specifics,” explains a new report from the
online Newsweek.
“But it also digs a bit deeper,” the report says.
“Other information Microsoft saves includes Bing search
queries and conversations with the new digital personal assistant Cortana;
contents of private communications such as email; websites and apps visited
(including features accessed and length of time used); and contents of private
folders,” the warning explains.
“Furthermore, ‘your typed and handwritten words’ are
collected.’”
All of the warnings come from the company’s software privacy
statement, which includes the statement that Microsoft collects information “to
provide you a personalized user dictionary, help you type and write on your
device with better character recognition, and provide you with text suggestions
as you type or write.”
Alec Meer at the RockPaperShotgun
blog warned it’s not something that should be ignored.
“Unless you pay close attention to the fluffy options
offered when you first install Microsoft’s new operating system, it’s going to
quietly track your behavior and use it to fire targeted ads at you, as well as
keeping tabs on your location history, data from messages, calendars, contacts
and God knows what else.”
The blog noted that “some of this stuff” can be turned off,
but the key point is that people “aren’t so hot” about paying for tools to
access the Web and such, so “the money comes from harvesting data and flogging
it to advertisers and other organizations who want to know exactly what we’re
all up to online.”
He continued, “If you ever wondered why they’ve made the
Windows 10 upgrade free to Win 7 & 8 users, here’s one possible answer. Windows
10 has all sorts of user tracking baked right in.”
The Daily Mail
reported another complication with the software.
The update to Windows 10, the report said, “automatically
made [a man's] porn collection into a slideshow and used it as a screensaver.
And to make matters worse, the malfunction was discovered by his wife, who was
greeted by the explicit images first thing in the morning.”
The report said a user posted the story online so others
would not repeat the mistake, which reportedly happened when the images were
saved into the “My Pictures” folder. It is from that folder the software draws
data to build slideshows, the report said.
“I have no idea how to shut that feature off and that
computer is staying shut down until I do,” the man wrote, according to the
Mail. “Free Windows and a free trip to the doghouse. Thanks Microsoft!”
Newsweek reported an estimated 14 million machines already
are running Windows 10.
“The company says it uses the data collected for three
purposes: to provide and improve its services; to send customers personalized
promotions; and to display targeted advertising, which sometimes requires the
information be shared with third parties.”
The report said Microsoft’s practices actually are similar
to Google’s, which analyzes the content of users’ emails to provide a “more
personalized product.”
Online privacy group European Digital Rights told the Times
that the MS policy not only was bad news for privacy.
“Your free speech rights can also be violated on an ad hoc
basis,” the group said.
Kirsten Fiedler, of EDR, told the Mail, “Microsoft basically
grants itself the right to collect and process everything you do, say and write
on your device – which is contrary to the fundamental right to privacy.”
The RockPaperShotgun
blog posted some instructions for opting out of the Microsoft data collection
plan.
The actions won’t, the blog said, reduce the ads seen.
“But they do mean that not quite so much information about
you will be gathered and sold, and also that the ads you do see won’t be
‘relevant’ to what algorithms have decided your interests are.”
National Security Agency (NSA)
National
Security Agency (NSA) was a grant
recipient from the Microsoft Corporation,
and is an agency for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Note: Michael V. Hayden
was a director at the National Security
Agency (NSA), and is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Philip
A. Odeen was a deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of
Defense, is a director at Booz
Allen Hamilton, and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Richard L. Armitage
was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Harold
Brown was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Frank C. Carlucci
was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Henry
E. Catto was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and the chair emeritus for the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Edwin
Dorn was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Eric S. Edelman
was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Jacques S.
Gansler was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Sherri W. Goodman
was a deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Stephen J. Hadley
was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Chuck
Hagel was a secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration,
and the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
James L. Jones
Jr. was a commander, U.S. European Command for the U.S. Department of
Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Paul
G. Kaminski was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Zalmay Khalilzad
was an assistant deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Franklin D.
Kramer was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
William
J. Lynn was a deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Judith A. Miller
was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
William
J. Perry was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
James R. Schlesinger
was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Walter B. Slocombe
was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Sean
O'Keefe was a comptroller & CFO for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
William H. Taft
IV was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Togo
D. West Jr. was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Dov
S. Zakheim was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, a VP for Booz Allen Hamilton, and is
a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Robert S. McNamara
was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, an honorary director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank), and an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Rosa
Brooks was an advisor to the undersecretary for the U.S. Department of
Defense, and a special counsel to
the president for the Open Society Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
William
A. Owens was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a senior military assistant to the secretary for the U.S.
Department of Defense.
Charles W. Duncan
Jr. was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Derek H. Chollet
was a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a special
assistant to the president for the Barack Obama administration, and is
the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Pete
Higgins is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was
a group VP for the Microsoft Corporation.
National
Security Agency (NSA) was a grant
recipient from the Microsoft Corporation,
and is an agency for the U.S. Department of Defense.
William H. Gates
III is a co-founder & technology adviser & director for the Microsoft Corporation, and a co-chair
for the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching,
the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
and the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Ann
M. Fudge is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a U.S. program advisory panel
chair for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Warren E. Buffett
is a trustee & major donor for the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and a friend of Donald R. Keough.
Donald
R. Keough was a friend of Warren E.
Buffett, and a director at the IAC/InterActiveCorp.
IAC/InterActiveCorp
was the owner of the Newsweek Daily
Beast Company.
Newsweek
is a merged company with the Newsweek
Daily Beast Company.
Deborah Rosenblum
is the EVP for the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and was an adviser for the U.S. Department of
Defense.
William J. Perry
is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), an honorary
director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and was
a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the U.S.
Department of Defense.
National
Security Agency (NSA) is an agency for the U.S. Department of
Defense, and was a grant recipient from the Microsoft Corporation.
Jamie S. Gorelick
was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
and a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Chas. W. Freeman
Jr. is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), was a National
Intelligence Council chairman nominee for the Barack Obama administration,
an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and a
director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
National
Security Agency (NSA) is an agency for the U.S. Department of
Defense, and was a grant recipient from the Microsoft Corporation.
Michael V. Hayden
was a director at the National Security
Agency (NSA), and is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
Philip
A. Odeen was a deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of
Defense, is a director at Booz
Allen Hamilton, and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Richard L.
Armitage was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
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