The Electronic Frontier Foundation had published a blog post “With Windows 10, Microsoft Blatantly Disregards User Choice and Privacy: A Deep Dive” where they claimed that Windows 10 collects an “unprecedented amount” of data. Amul Kalia, the author of the published blog post, blasted Microsoft’s attempt to push Windows 10 install “The tactics Microsoft employed to get users of earlier versions of Windows to upgrade to Windows 10 went from annoying to downright malicious. Some highlights: Microsoft installed an app in users’ system trays advertising the free upgrade to Windows 10. The app couldn’t be easily hidden or removed, but some enterprising users figured out a way. Then, the company kept changing the app and bundling it into various security patches, creating a cat-and-mouse game to uninstall it.” They also described that the method used by Microsoft to push Windows 10 installs are “highly deceptive” and also said that “Time after time, with each update, Microsoft chose to employ questionable tactics to cause users to download a piece of software that many didn’t want. “ We have also shared an article on How To Stop Windows spying on you and Electronic Frontier Foundation also talked about what Windows does after it gets installed in your System in which they said: “Windows 10 sends an unprecedented amount of usage data back to Microsoft, particularly if users opt in to “personalize” the software using the OS assistant called Cortana. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of data sent back: location data, text input, voice input, touch input, web pages you visit, and telemetry data regarding your general usage of your computer, including which programs you run and for how long.” However, Electronic Frontier Foundation urges Microsoft to come clean and offer some real choices to users and also says that the company needs to be straightforward in separating security updates from operating system upgrades going forward, and not try to bypass user choice and privacy expectations. You can read the article here.
