Thursday, August 6, 2015

Windows 10 spies on emails, images, credit cards, more Software 'collecting data on much of what you do'



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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