EULA has every software and every OS meant to run on a device. It is the main tool for developers to protect their product from law matters. Another way to protect it, among others, is to choose for a closed source. They have the right, it is their property. Endusers of payed software have only a licence specifically for use and nothing else. Even for open source software, it is for the average computer user, due lag of technical knowledge, impossible to know wat the software or OS is exactly doing on the background... More or like a matter of trust... Who really do not trust M$ is free not to use windows. Everywhere there are possibilities to build a custom desktop or laptop without OS. Windows 10 is an excellent OS, specially in the ltsb version i use without metro ui, and the new "bloatware", clean and stable. In the past 9 days i use it, except "privacy", not a single problem. Everything i connected works properly, with .Net 2.0-3.5 installed and compability mode even works with software meant for XP-SP3. There are already tweaks to limit the spy and advertising matters and undoubtedly there will be more to come. I see no need to go back to old software. World must go on forward. People are not quickly satisfied, that's why we have progress in life and do not stil live in caves and "eating" only from trees....
I respect that. There's a lot to process, and there are many other things to do and see. Just know that it's here. If you want to peruse it, hopefully you'll find something in here that makes sense to you. As have I. I still have too many commercial products that are not available or useable in Linux. I'm thinking that two separate systems are in order. Will do it when time permits. I don't disagree. Everybody should fight from a position of strength. Perhaps that's where you battle best. Some is, some isn't. But it's there to see (and read) if you want to or have the time to look. You can then formulate your own opinions. Opinions that hopefully, will help to serve your needs better. Thanks for posting that pic. It's beautiful. My mom has a puzzle program, and She will love it. :MJ
@mitsos: please read this page: https://www.eff.org/wp/dangerous-ter...rs-guide-eulas You have certain rights that EULAs try to take away without due process.
Here is short (hate-free) summary about advertising ID, new EULA, cookies etc.: Google translator Bing translator (seems accurate)
@JanCerny: Thanks for posting this. The more proof that's posted the more likely people will start to see that this is a real threat to everybody. And awareness is a good start.
Great and thank you for the info... Not such a big deal, but I would like to add this because it's a quick and easy single setting; Disable or customize Windows’ Internet Connection test to improve privacy By Martin Brinkmann on February 7, 2014 in Windows - Last Update: February 10, 2014 22 Whenever you start a PC running Windows, an Internet connection test is run automatically to test the Internet availability. The test tries to connect to a Microsoft website -- http://www.msftncsi.com/ -- to download the ncsi.txt text file from the server the website is hosted on. Windows knows then if your computer has Internet access, local area network access, or no network access at all. To be precise, NCSI, that is the Network Connectivity Status Indicator, tries to connect to the domain name to check the contents of the text file. It will also make a request for the DNS name resolution of dns.msftncsi.com and expects the result to be 131.107.255.255. The text file itself does not contain lots of information, just the text Microsoft NCSI to be precise, but since a connection attempt is being made, it can be recorded by the servers. So, whenever Windows checks for Internet connectivity successfully, the time of the connection and the IP address is recorded by Microsoft's server. This is confirmed on this Microsoft Technet page where the feature is described in detail:IIS logs are stored on the server at www.msftncsi.com. These logs contain the time of each access and the IP address recorded for that access. These IP addresses are not used to identify users, and in many cases, they are the address of a network address translation (NAT) computer or proxy server, not a specific client behind that NAT computer or proxy server. According to the information, the IP address that gets recorded by the server is not used to identify users. A -- not so recent -- post on the Superuser forum highlights two options to block the testing of the Internet connection and the sending of data to Microsoft's server. The first disables the check in the Windows Registry, the second changes the server to a custom hosted one so that checks are performed on a server under your control. The Registry This is the easier option. All it takes is to change the value of a single Registry key and be done with it for good. Use the Windows-R combination to bring up the run box on your system. Type regedit and hit enter. Confirm the UAC prompt that appears. Navigate to the following folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet Double-click on EnableActiveProbing and change its value from 1 to 0. This disables the feature. Should you wish to enable it again at a later point in time, change its value back to 1.
An interesting thought that has just occurred to me: While some windows users willingly agree to have their emails, chat, SMS and the like recorded "to enhance features", communications are usually between at least 2 people. What if the other person is someone who does not use Microsoft products and has never agreed to such policy? In this case Microsoft will collect personal data about someone who may not even know about it and would never allow it. Is this even legal in any country in the world? If someone sends an email to a friend, should they be worried about what operating system the other one has, and what privacy settings they're using? In my country reading someone else's letter without consent is alone considered a crime and will draw legal action.
Good point...with this privacy invasive broad brush approach M$ has on Windows 10, it's only a matter of time I expect lawsuits against M$ to arise in countries like Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden where strict and concise privacy laws are paramount. Either from citizens and/or their governments.
Lets just make this easier on ourselves when explaining the EULA. You could put the entirety of mein kampf in the MS EULA and people would still agree. Yes agree... Yes Agree aghhh hurry up!
Guys we need to consolidate the information we have on the Telemetry tracking back into a permanently updating thread. The orginal OP should reflect this in a stickied thread. There ya go my thoughts in a nutshell. This way everyone side steps the bashing / politics and can see the facts presented to them. They can draw their own conclusion as well.
Yep. There's so much threads about telemetry here that makes it hard to gather information or to find something that you're looking for. We need a sticky with all this telemetry stuff ONLY, not another thread with user specific tasks that most of them has nothing to do with telemetry but only stuff that the user finds disposable to his system.
That's what I mean by potential lawsuits only. They help cases against copyright issues and such. They do not benefit the customer at all.
The ISPs are not collecting the data. They are allowing the various government intelligence agencies to attach Tee connections to their high speed data trunks. The result it that they can collect your data without you even knowing it. This has been going on for quite a few years, all over the world. Wiretapping without a subpoena. William Binney spoke of cases where, in another country, the NSA illegally collected evidence and handed it to the police. The police were then told to "find other legit evidence so that it won't be thrown out of court" I don't believe that to be true at all. The EFF has lawyers who analyze the various EULAs and write about loopholes or privacy dangers. Each of our respective governments know about their own laws; they wrote them. Just as tech people find the holes and plug them, lawyers analyze the agreements and the law and submit their findings so that these agreements can be understood by lay persons. Ultimately, the people have to act. Microsoft can share your emails and conversations with third party affiliates. So who are these "affiliates", and what are they doing with your data? And now they can capture your voice with Cortana. Even if they encrypt the data, the government can compel them to provide decryption keys. And they can do it as they see fit, because the government is secretly behind them, and the Privacy agreement that you agree to when you press "Accept" allows them to.
Some words...the ISP plays a major role, though. Depending on local laws the ISP can and even has to collect meta data. They are used for billing purposes and is a part of the GTC. There the IP address is assigned to the real name and home address. The time period they are stored is regulated by local laws. Without this information any data that can be collected by M$ is finally tied to a IP address. This does not mean there is no potential in the collected data, though. (Market analyses, private info of the data itself)
@boops: We do not know the details of what the OS is collecting at this point. What we do know is that the MS Privacy Statement enables them to collect a broad spectrum of data, and share it with whoever they see fit. Some of it is sold as marketing data. This data passes through our ISPs and into the hands of the government, along with cellular data. What is our government doing with our data? What is the purpose of this collection practice? William Binney says that it's about totalitarian control. Since He spent 30 years or so at the NSA, I tend to listen to what He has to say about this subject.
@Yen: That's true. The ISPs are compelled to collect a certain amount of data for accounting purposes. But until recently, it was illegal for them to hand that data over to the government or Law Enforcement without a court order showing probable cause. Sadly, this is changing. The government is usurping the law by collecting the data themselves. All under the guise of "protecting our economy" or "Fighting Terrorism". This is very dangerous. And now, Microsoft is in the game. The creators of the Operating Systems that we trust to conduct themselves in an honorable fashion. I don't mean any offense by my statement, but if the USA is doing this (The "Land of the free") I shudder to think about what may be going on elsewhere in the world.
All this they have always done. It's a race to capture or contain information. Said access to information (especially sensitive) of specific individuals holding important positions in government or hold jobs infrastucturas massive source (military defense, power stations, water reservoirs, airports, etc.) are the most desirable goodies . The only difference is that every time we accept (legally) be spied in exchange for losing privacy. Not only are interested in this information to governments, too companies like Google, Apple, with dubious purposes are installed every day in our homes, through almost everything that moves electricity. The appliances are increasingly intelligent. We install all types of sensors, and equipped with small brains, intelligent circuitry for purposes of collecting information, which will gradually be more demanding. Information is power, and that is something that anyone wants. Excuse my poor English, thanks.
Hey everyone, I have a question for you. I notice a lot of threads on this forum about how to stop Windows 10 from phoning home. I have applied every tweak there is, and I still notice NEW windows hosts showing up in my internet logs, one of them uploaded 6 MB! of data to Microsoft. I've started to realize that the answer probably doesn't lie in trying to modify the operating system. After all, since it's closed source, Windows can just bypass whatever they want at any time. So that got me thinking, how CAN we stop this? Would the solution lie in pressuring Microsoft to change the EULA ? Would the solution lie in taking Microsoft to court? Then, I thought of something today. What if we contact companies that have our information (doctors, hospitals, banks, credit unions) to NOT upgrade to Windows 10? Wouldn't we essentially be hitting Microsoft where it hurts? At the enterprise level? I know that some of these options are very optimistic, but instead of shutting my ideas down, lets work together and find SOMETHING that we can do What are your thoughts on all of this?