So let's get this straight: Does Windows spy on you in the way that schizos and freetards always claim, or is it just nonsense
Arguments for the fact that it's spying: >It is well known that Windows has some telemetry >Closed source, so you can't verify what it's doing
Arguments against: >Real companies and governments with real security and confidentiality requirements use Windows >No concrete proof of it actually spying on your actions. The telemetry could be just diagnostic information or some anonymized statistics >Some actual security researchers say that it doesn't actually spy on you as in stealing your files or something. >Intelligence agencies still have to resort into looking for zero days to exploit
A couple months ago, I read a book by this somewhat famous security researcher (Mikko Hyppönen). He claimed that national intelligence agencies of many countries are looking for zero days in Windows (and other software) that they can abuse in their intelligence. Now if Windows is really spying on you in the way that people on sites like this claim, then why would they have to resort into something like that?
Why should I trust the schizos here more than well respected security researchers who have been in the field for over 20 years?
why does the chinese government need its own special build of windows? why would intelligence agencies openly admit to using backdoors in windows?
Robert Jackson
>Does Windows spy on In interesting ways, yes. But it is no different than how games spy on you. Microsoft reserves the right to view how you use your machine and utilizes telemetry at various levels to do so. You can opt out of full telemetry and simple send diagnostics and statistics though. You can even turn it off completely if you know what you're doing.
>in the way that schizos and freetards always claim No. Windows Defender may be the closest to this, and the integrated no-confirmation tie ins to Windows Support Team can be sketchy at times, but neither can be done without express action. Windows Defender, like any antivirus, is a buffer. It will never upload your files to Windows servers unless, like any antivirus, it has no idea what it is looking at, and only for files located in system critical areas or that inherently do not contain your explicit data. Support team tie ins require you to click a link, but beyond that you'd know if you allowed it.
Nicholas Turner
Worth mentioning that corporations use Windows 10 Enterprise which has all (most?) of the telemetry disabled.
>Now if Windows is really spying on you in the way that people on sites like this claim, then why would they have to resort into something like that?
Because they can't break into Microsoft to get the data so attack the users instead?
John Carter
>Real companies and governments with real security and confidentiality requirements use Windows
If you think that governments are getting the same copy of Windows Pro that you get, I've got a bridge to sell you.
They audit that phone home code line by line and build their own gold masters. Where did you think those Windows source code leaks were coming from, fren?
Bentley Taylor
Windows does spy on you.It takes a screenshot of your desktop every 10 minutes. It does the same for anything opened in the photo app.
In the case of the photo app, the claim is to check the hash to the NCMEC database to find diddlers (a whole 6 years before Apple). In the case of the desktop screenshot, it sends it to Redmond who keeps it for Billy Gates' personal AI for when Moderna succeeds.
Lest we forget the Snowden Leaks have a slide regarding PRISM implying Microsoft to be the creator of the software. M$ was the first to adopt it an entire 5 years before other companies did.
Do not trust this evil and scary company with your data.
Nolan Bell
yeah it spies on you but so does everything else. unless you are really anal about your security and every package you install and what you do online, it really wont matter. obviously its still all about minimizing these things but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. in terms of backdoors you're already fucked from the start because of intel me/amd's psp shit, and amd wise there has been barely any effort into disabling it (there was some shit a awhile back but it never went anywhere). if you care you can still disable'ish intel me on modern boards if you just enable that NSA HAP shit that's left in, although who knows how effective it really is as it may report that its not running but like they've also made sure it wont work if you fuck up the ime partitions or disable r/w permissions on them and shit even if its soft-disabled
a lot of the people posting about windows being a botnet probably still have discord open on their second monitor, posting on some shitty browser, using a vpn that keeps logs that they signed up for with their gmail/pay for with their real card, watching their favorite youtubers, etc. windows tracking you is probably the least of your worries when it comes to privacy or security right now
Bill gates isn't part of Microsoft anymore and he owns less than 2% of the company
Bentley Miller
>a lot of the people posting about windows being a botnet probably still have discord open on their second monitor, posting on some shitty browser, using a vpn that keeps logs that they signed up for with their gmail/pay for with their real card, watching their favorite youtubers, etc. windows tracking you is probably the least of your worries when it comes to privacy or security right now I've kinda come to this conclusion too. It's probably better to focus on avoiding fucking blatant spyware like Discord, Steam or kernel level anti cheat in video games. I don't really even play games anymore but maybe you get the point. And website tracking, social media, instant messaging privacy etc. is probably a bigger worry too.
Brayden Howard
while 5% of linux praise on this board makes some sense 95% of linux felating on this board is from extreme poorfags who live in literal abject poverty and a $20 SSD is 20% of their yearly income you will hear these literal 3rd worlders whine about windows updates taking hours or some shit on their antique 1990's shitboxes running spinning rust drives whereas anyone with any SSD will have never had a windows update take more than 30 seconds or 3 minutes for cumulative update packs once you realize this, it puts into perspective any sort of advice or opinion you receive from the NEETs on this board desuarchive.org/g/thread/84474692
Homie is trying to start some class warfare nonsense. I make 6 digits and still whine about how Microsoft manages our data. Independent of income, it’s unethical and I will do what I can to not support it.
