New “Recall” feature in Windows 11 is a privacy nightmare
New “Recall” feature in Windows 11 is a privacy nightmare
Would you like a timeline of everything you do on your PC?
The new “Recall” feature really does look good on paper, but the taking in mind that it catalogues almost everything you do on your computer, it could turn out to be a privacy nightmare. “logging things you do in apps, tracking communications in live meetings, remembering all websites you’ve visited for research, and more,” according to the Verge. What could this mean for future computing? It would certainly make digital forensics a whole lot easier…..
In case anyone read the headline and was worried it would pop up on your computer overnight, it does appear to need some hefty and recent processors and between 6-25GBs free in order to run at all, so I don't think it'll sneak up on folks any time soon.
On the bad news front, I thought this was standard AI bad until I got to the part where it won't obscure passwords. But, surprise, it will obscure DRM content (and private browsing, but just if you're using Microsoft Edge).
Terrible for privacy aware consumers but I really anticipate the worst of this will be in a corporate setting. Plenty of employers already spy on employees but this would be pretty next level.
135where it won't obscure passwords. But, surprise, it will obscure DRM content
Yeah, we all know where the priorities really are.
How have our consumer protections gone so fucking far.
84I literally have a real "Consumer Protection Act" wishlist that I keep a running tally on in my head. Near the top of the list are things like "rent caps", "strict opt-in for direct marketing", and "strict opt-in for all data tracking". On the last two, it is a "no purchase necessary" situation. Features and functionality are not allowed to be gated behind opting in.
Oh, and big one here, no subscriptions gating features on purchased or leased property. If it is not directly paying for a perpetual service, fuck yourselves. If I see the word "subscription" tied to cars one more time I may start fomenting revolt. I have been seeing it more and more. Manufactured goods having their functions gated behind continuing to pay for the item is absolute bullshit and should be illegal. I'm wanting to lump SaaS in with that too. Consumers should be allowed to file suit to force companies to justify their subscriptions and there should be some pretty harsh guidelines on what qualifies. We need to be allowed to own things. Subscriptions and SaaS both do away with consumer ownership.
Last one... EULAs need to be negotiable by individuals. Period. The idea that we can just "not use it if we don't like the contract" is ludicrous in the modern world. No matter how careful one is, if you want to participate in the world, you must enter into a binding contract which can essentially take any rights and liberties they want with no recourse on the part of the consumer. And I don't care if it would he prohibitively expensive for companies to do that. Just don't make EULAs that people will feel the need to object to and you won't have to worry. Costs nothing but all of the souls you harvest on a daily basis.
26They can afford more and better lawyers, that's how.
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Yeah it takes screenshots periodically and all the storage and analysis is done on your local device, which is why it requires the newer CPUs with NPUs from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. There's a setting to turn the whole feature off, and you can also choose to turn it off for only certain applications, etc. Microsoft seems to be making an effort to encourage chip manufacturers to make better NPUs so that their AI features can run as locally as possible. That's likely why their new surface devices will be using the snapdragon x elite processors because they're the only ones that have NPUs with enough TOPS to run all the AI features Microsoft wants on device, instead of having to send the data for processing to a Microsoft server. I think beyond trying to quell privacy concerns, it would be a huge cost for Microsoft if they had to have enough compute available to run all these AI tasks for users for free. I'm sure there's still some way they are logging pieces of info here and there, but they'll have to include some way to make sure the OS is secure enough for business operations that are handling secure information.
People are acting as if auto saving, web history, reopen last used windows, etc aren't already features on all modern apps and OSes. If the claim about everything staying on device is true then this is no different.
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it includes logging things you do in apps, tracking communications in live meetings, remembering all websites you’ve visited for research, and more.
Yeah, uh, no thank you.
Is Microsoft this out of touch? Or are we doomed to be constantly monitored by our corporate overlords?
Seems we're just still charging directly into 1984.
51It can be both. Until the mass public starts caring or it starts affecting big business I don't see things getting sensible any time soon.
5Yes, those websites were totally for "research." Yep, totally.
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Every time I think Microsoft can’t get any worse they just find a way to innovate.
49The sad part is that this tool would be very useful if it wasn't being made and operated by ghouls. If it was fully self hosted and encrypted then this would be amazing.
34I don’t know why people are surprised. They had a different version of this feature, “Activity History” in Windows 10. This is the same thing but they added “AI” to it.
30For the last couple of years privacy on windows has basically been:
Step 1: use strong passwords
Step 2: third party company leaks your data anyway28The default allocation for Recall on a device with 256 GB will be 25 GB, which can store approximately 3 months of snapshots.
this comes out to about 2 GB / week. it’s honestly terrifying they could be generating 2 GB of activity data for just a weeks worth of computer use. it’s both a privacy nightmare and an optimization nightmare
27Yeah, just for reference ... 2 weeks of 1920x1080 video at 60 fps is about 7 GB.
Snapshots, or recorded actions, should be possible with far less space than 2 GB.
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New Recall feature inWindows 11 is a privacy nightmareFixed
24It's anti-libre software.
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Guys, you’re paying extra for a keylogger. And a bad key logger at that. WTH
23How would companies that work on classified documents or HIPPA-compliant networks adapt to this bullshit? Surely Microsoft thought this through to prevent a massive data leak, right?
22Probably the same way they've done Windows in the past: Enterprise, IoT, LTS/B, and Education versions. All you can do at that point is assume and hope they aren't lying about telemetry gathered in those variants.
10All you can do at that point is assume and hope they aren’t lying about telemetry gathered in those variants.
This is a lie. Anti-libre software, Windows, bans us from removing malicious source code. So, we (1) remove it and (2, optional) replace it.
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Okay, time to look into Unix distros.
20I mean ... I saw that for some reason when I logged into Windows 11 yesterday it had the NBA score in the bottom left. Who the hell asked if I wanted that?
Went back to my Linux/Mint box as I rarely use my windows one but that pissed me right off.
17Always has been 🔫🧑🚀
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We know this what the real purpose of this is, it seems like they're going to sell it as a necessary tool for people who are too stupid to use a basic search function? Per The Verge:
"Microsoft’s launching Recall for Copilot Plus PCs, a new Windows 11 tool that keeps track of everything you see and do on your computer and, in return, gives you the ability to search and retrieve anything you’ve done on the device."
Oh, and apparently "Microsoft is promising users that the Recall index remains local and private on-device." Something something Brooklyn Bridge...
16“the ability to search and retrieve anything you’ve done on the device” combined with “people who save everything to desktop” …
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Uhhhh. Governments use w11. I'm betting they get this disabled or freak the fuck out. If the former it'll mean it's able to be turned off at least.
11Healthcare too. This thing sounds like a HIPAA violation nightmare.
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A bearded free software prophet once said all this would happen. They called him CRAZY.
9Is anyone else reminded of the time they tried to save the Undo history in Word documents, only to realize that this was a massive security risk?
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This, running locally (which should be feasible in 2-3 years) would be so cool. I would really dig this on my Fedora computer, I think this is a genuinely good idea and a rare good use case of AI and object detection.
Edit: it seems it is actually running locally thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite's AI accelerator. Pretty cool stuff though I am sure Microsoft still found a way to make this another intrusion to the users privacy.
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