Nadim Kobeissi said that this puts Microsoft in a “compromising, omniscient situation” where they are capable of retaining information on the application usage of all Windows 8 users. Needless to say this is a serious privacy concern, which Vole appears to have forgotten to warn the user about when they are installing and setting up Windows 8, even though they are given the option to disable SmartScreen.
It also means that Microsoft could be sued by the various government spooks to find out what information you have, including IP addresses. Kobeissi was also worried about data being leaked out thanks to Microsoft's use of SSlv2. Microsoft insists that it is not building a historical database of application and user IP data.
A spokesVole said that IP addresses were necessary to connect to its service, but these were deleted them from Microsoft logs and this data does not identify, contact or target advertising to users. Microsoft did not share it with third parties. As for concerns over the leakage of material via SSLv2.0, Microsoft said that it will not use this protocol with Windows 8 and that SmartScreen does not support that version. There seems to be some truth in this. Kobeissi notes that 14 hours after he posted about the issue a new scan of the servers showed no SSlv2 support.
Tells Microsoft about your apps
Microsoft's new Windows 8 Smartscreen appears to be telling Redmond what apps you are using.
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Nick Farrell
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