Vista is watching you...
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-ab...oft-58752.shtml
"Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.
Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft's end user data harvest via Vista..."
Scary stuff if you ask me. They seem very upfront about the data that is collected, but that doesn't make it any less of a privacy raping.
"Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.
Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft's end user data harvest via Vista..."
Scary stuff if you ask me. They seem very upfront about the data that is collected, but that doesn't make it any less of a privacy raping.
Replies
Its not raping privacy if they tell you. It is you who is the fool who buys the software before reading up on it, then claims they're stealing your information.
No, I don't really agree with it. But they ARE telling you, they're NOT hiding it, and it should be such a well known fact by now that one would know/use the means necessary to not be spied on if they're so freaked out over it.
Yes, it is a personal computer, but you're not using a personal operating system on it. In fact, a lot of the data is used to help troubleshoot when you call in to bitch about your computer sucking ass. They can tell you "Stop teh pr0nz". There should be a balance between good customer service and privacy, sadly a lot of the time they're mutually exclusive. They're still testing the waters. If you want privacy, then use a private operating system. If you don't know what you're doing, then why care so much?
It is you who is the fool who buys the software
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exactly
Its not raping privacy if they tell you. It is you who is the fool who buys the software before reading up on it, then claims they're stealing your information.
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You're right, my bad. It's more along the lines of the consensual sodomizing of ones privacy.
Personally I'm disappointed by this and won't consider getting a copy of Vista now. The idea of disabling all those features, including crucial security updates sounds like a raw deal to me. Real nice of MS to allow you the freedom of choice to submit to their legal spyware or run the risk of having your system compromised by illegal spyware and virus'. Thanks but I'll pass.
I do wonder about how obvious this data harvesting is made to the average PC user when they go into a store and pick up a copy of Vista.
Then there's the issue of new games that require Vista to run...
I do wonder about how obvious this data harvesting is made to the average PC user when they go into a store and pick up a copy of Vista.
Then there's the issue of new games that require Vista to run...
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Exactly. Oh, we're such fuckups for not having asked the dear people at the computershop to allow us to sit besides them while they install everything. Those who know what this means, and who didn't need the article to realise it was in there in one form or another are often not the ones who buy their pc as a finished package, yet those who do, never get to see the privacy agreement.
I wasn't going to get Vista anyway. Excited as i was about the prospect of some of my petpeeves being eliminated (they weren't) and things in general being improved upon (they weren't), I'm in no hurry to upgrade. If anything, having promised so much and delivered so little, I'd consider 'upgrading' to a non-MS OS if only it'd run everything i want.
So somewhere, in some huge database of information that's going to be used for marketing and troubleshooting purposes, and little more, is the dirty little secret that you visited that porn site one time a few years back. Big fucking deal. Do you think there are technicians sitting around laughing about how Mr. 127.0.0.1 was spending his time friday night? No, of course not.
People might as well start getting used to it, or don their tinfoil hats now. This is the way computers are headed, and I can't see a change happening anytime soon. The majority of the population would still be blissfully unaware of any "spying" if CNN and all the major "news" networks hadn't spouted this crap in the first place.
your logic fails!
Even if Microsoft was the kindest giant imaginable, there's something principally un-nerving about it. We're not paying to use it by giving up our rights, we're paying to use it with MONEY. That should make it our purchase, instead of something we rent that sends useful information back home.
There are much worse things to worry about then this. I am sure a lot of you have cell phones. Well everytime you make / receive a call it's logged as to who / where it came from or who you called. What cell tower you used, and much more. With gps tracking in a lot of cell phones these days anyone could track where Customer 56789 goes on a daily basis. That is more worrisome to me than why microsoft wants to know what video card drivers and stuff i am using.
For the people worried about if microsoft can turn the data against them. Well yeah thats obvious. Cell phone companys, car rental companys, etc are entitled to provide records if requested by the government. Unless you are selling kiddy porn and doing all kinds of illegal stuff I'm sure you have nothing to worry about.
Spark
You'll all probably be getting vista soon enough. Just like XP, it sucks ass at first, but after a service pack or two, it'll be hard not to switch. Besides, microsoft only uses that harvested info to make their baby-eating machines more efficient... it's not like they're going to sell it to other companies or anything truly evil like that.
Personally, I'm not too concerned, but I would prefer that none of my info is taken. Especially if it somehow helps out MS financially(selling to ad companies) and I get nothing out of it.
For those who say the harvested data is only for troubleshooting/marketing purposes:
"Microsoft may disclose personal information about you if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on Microsoft; (b) protect and defend the rights of Microsoft (including enforcement of our agreements); or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, users of Microsoft software or services, or members of the public,"
If you've ever used cracked software or downloaded mp3s, movies, comics, whatever from non-legit sources I guess this would apply to you. And if not now, perhaps it will under new internet/PC related laws that may be created in the future.
I hear you guys who're saying its not your social insurance/security numbers and PINs they're collecting. But doesn't it make you think that maybe it could be one day?
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People might as well start getting used to it, or don their tinfoil hats now. This is the way computers are headed, and I can't see a change happening anytime soon.
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You're right about that, but it's only going that way because the vast majority of consumers allow it to. If people were to let MS know that they weren't having a part in any of this data harvesting by boycotting the software, I think we'd all be surprised at how quickly it was ditched. At the end of the day the consumers hold all the power over corporations when controversial things like this are introduced. Whether there are enough out there who are aware of this and care to do anything about it is what's decides where it goes from here.
Microsoft, and their products, are a necessary evil these days. There's no way around it.
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At the end of the day the consumers hold all the power over corporations when controversial things like this are introduced.
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This isn't really all that new, or controversial. Companies have been collecting data about our computers practically from day one. Like I said before, nobody batted an eye until the media jumped in and declared that Microsoft was concocting some evil scheme to steal our ones and zeros. Everybody panic.
Its not raping privacy if they tell you.
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Yeah that's what I tried to tell the cops. Turns out, it was rape either way, whether I told her before hand or not... I figured, she knew it was coming, she should ether get the hell away or make herself wet to make things easier.
Microsoft doesn't need to sell your personal information to make money, I think they've already figured out some pretty good ways to rake in cash without pissing off their entire user base to the point of uprising.
I just don't see a huge problem with what they are doing. I am not worried about microsoft stealing my money.
Who knows. Maybe good ole Bill Gates is like old Chancellor Palpatine and is just playing us for fools and will unleash the First Galactic Empire upon us with his army of Clones, Death Star and Imperial Star Destroyers. (Oh god that would be so awesome.)
If you've ever used cracked software or downloaded mp3s, movies, comics, whatever from non-legit sources I guess this would apply to you. And if not now, perhaps it will under new internet/PC related laws that may be created in the future.
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Holy shit! So... if we do something illegal... we could get caught and get in trouble? There should be laws against THAT.
Seriously, MS is not going to be sitting there playing peeping tom for Christ's sake. Do you actually believe that they'd watch you of the millions upon millions of people who use their software?
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Yeah that's what I tried to tell the cops. Turns out, it was rape either way, whether I told her before hand or not... I figured, she knew it was coming, she should ether get the hell away or make herself wet to make things easier.
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If you told her that you were going to have sex with her, then got her to agree to a contract saying she agreed to this, THEN had sex with her, I'm afraid it wouldn't be rape.
Professor420> Nice.
Ferg> I'm not upset, a little disappointed, but all it really means is I won't buy a copy of Vista, or I'll wait until I absolutely have to to run the games and software I want to use.
What you say is interesting and if the majority of the information they collect is used as you say to improve Vista then great, I look forward to them improving it. All I'm saying is they should ditch the rest or provide a better alternative for disabling it, rather than just gimping your copy of Vista. There's a difference between tracking bug reports (which I would have no problem with) and the vast amounts of other information Vista is a capable of harvesting. Sorry if I sound irrational to you, but I don't have the benefit of one of those cool MS umbrellas. Maybe I could borrow yours sometime?
I'm not insinuating that MS are doing anything evil with this information. I could come up with some wild speculation and hypotheticals but there would be no point. All I'm saying is that I personally find the amount and variety of data Vista is able to harvest legally a bit disturbing for a piece of software that I'm paying for. And that if this kind of privacy agreement becomes standard in software over the years to come it could possibly become more invasive/abusive to the privacy rights of the end user. I'm also not convinced that the average user knows what they're agreeing to when they purchase a copy of Vista or a new PC with the software already installed.
If you told her that you were going to have sex with her, then got her to agree to a contract saying she agreed to this, THEN had sex with her, I'm afraid it wouldn't be rape.
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"Hey bitch I want to rape you. The only way I'll let you out of this broom closet is if you sign this sheet consenting to sex with me."
You're right, we don't HAVE to do anything. We don't HAVE to install MS software and upgrade to Vista. But we hardly have a choice. We are not arguing legally here, we are arguing morally. Morally what MS is doing is privacy raping.
"Hey bitch, here's a new integral piece of software that you cannot do anything new on your PC without in the near future. The only way you can use it is if you sign this document consenting to give away your privacy."
MS has every legal right in the USA and many Western countries to do what they are doing, but we must remember that laws of this nature are just an institutionalized form of our common morality (I would say things like the Bill of Rights go beyond common morality and wouldn't be subject to this sort of relativity). Our common morality in the USA (we are told) is strongly tailored to an unregulated market and vast corporatisation, and increasingly the loss of rights of the individuals (helped along in many cases by privacy issues such as this).
On the one hand, there is so much personal information swirling around the world wide ether at far less secure places than microsoft, its like, what's the point... we've already jumped off the cliff onto this slippery slope, no way to go back now, let's just be cool with it. I'm sure that trends and practices such as this, full of information collection and the like, will never come back to bite us. They may never be used for more than improving software, which is great. Unfortunately, more information is being collected than just improving software, information is being passed around you never agree and consented to, and its just a matter of time before more and more people get bitten in the ass by this if the legislation and judiciary keep going as they are going.