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Microsoft makes Windows 10 privacy changes

by on18 January 2017


Changes please the regulators but not everyone

While regulators are happy with Windows 10’s privacy changes, users might be miffed that Vole has not given a complete opt-out feature.

Microsoft announced several privacy changes in Windows 10 to pacify regulators. The Swiss data protection and privacy regulator, the FDPIC, said last week it would drop its threats of a lawsuit after Microsoft "agreed to implement" a string of recommendations it made last year.

It looks like Microsoft’s moves have not impressed the French data protection watchdog, the CNIL. While the French are rarely happy with anything, CNIL said that the changes "seem to comply" with its complaint, but it's now analysing more details of Microsoft answers to see if all the failures underlined in the formal notice do now comply with the law.

Microsoft is not saying what data gets collected, except that the data is used to improve its software and services down the line. Vole wants users to "trust" it which is worrying - after all the phrase "trust me" is something that politicians say when they are lying.

To be fair, it is not likely that Vole is doing anything nefarious with users' data but it could turn over what it is collecting to the government or lose it to hackers.

Changing the privacy controls is a move in the right direction but it is stopping short of what many users want – the ability to switch off data collection. It seems that Vole has hit on a "just enough" approach to appease the regulators and ignore the fact that there are users who really hate the fact that PCs phone Microsoft.

Last modified on 18 January 2017
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