OT: Microsoft is watching us

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Comments

  • EtheralEtheral Posts: 91

    You can use a VM with PCI passthrough so you can use DAZ or whatever other windows application you want in Linux. It takes a lot of time to configure though.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,795
    edited April 2018

    I find it funny people completely ignore Goggle's pervasive data collection of their activities but get upset that MS does occacional advertising of their apps and services and bug collection activities on the Windows 10 platform.

    It's pretty simple. If I use a free service I expect the company to take data I deliberately gave them by entering it into the service.

    If I buy a program, I expect it not to send a whiff of data to the company unless it explicitly asks me first.

    No it's not. Nothing Google lets you have 'for free' is free. All of us are paying higher prices to pay for 'Google Services' even if their advertising is overpriced and ineffective we still pay higher prices for products because of it. Institutions and others must pay for supported versions of Google products. Sales in the GooglePlay store have a percentage of profit from the 3rd party vendor taken. Real individuals and businesses actually pay for advertising and that money goes to Google. Chromebooks and Android phones cost real money. How is any of that considered free?

    Meanwhile, it's quite easy to get a free copy of Windows 10 and that free copy be 100% legal and on the up & up from directly Microsoft itself. And if one can't qualify for that I've yet to see a Chrome Book or an Android phone given away for free so what's the difference if the OS is ChromeOS or Windows 10, except for actually doing something on your computer besides browsing while Google collects data on all your page visits.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500

    Here's the concern for me. The other day I was having a discussion on a private forum. Someone mentioned they had been listening to Pachalbel and I replied that I had put on Canon in D to listen to in bed. Shortly after that,my Facebook feed had a recommended page for Pachalbel and other similar music. So much for "private".

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232

    We hear stories of A.I. taking over the world but I have noticed a rather sinister trend recently, AIs have taken up telephone scamming. I've had a few calls where an obviously synthesized voice has told me my Internet connection has been compromised and will be canceled unless I press 1 to connect to a technician to fix the problem.

    Hey, I've had that call a couple of times recently! Although the AI still needs a bit of work — I've only ever heard half of the blurb, because the recording at the other end starts while my answering machine is still giving its "nobody here" message. Argleblargle...

    BTW, interesting thing about voices there, I don't think it's synthesised, it sounds a bit more to me like a slightly better than usual attempt to mask an Asian accent.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046
    edited April 2018
    NoahLGP said:
    kyoto kid said:
    NoahLGP said:

    Nohing like that on my Win 10 Pro, I think it's a Win 10 Home "feature".

    Edge ads appear with Firefox too.

    ...yeah had I gone ahead with the free offer, I'd have W10 home (as at the time I had W7 Home) and thus minimal control over what's on my system (for example disabling Cortana [which is not only a "nag" feature but also collects data on searches] is a much more involved process on Home Edition than it is on Pro which includes hacking the registry).

    ...I think the next time I create an espionage expert character for the RPG I'm involved with I'll name her Cortana.

     

    Even if you "disable" Cortana but it keeps on running in background and spying what you are doing. Only Win 10 Entreprise or Education can really turn off Cortana.

    ...unfortunately Enterprise is more expensive while W10S restricts what you can run on it (and according to what I read, MS will be pulling the plug on the latter as it bombed).

    So just staying with W7 Pro until Linux becomes more accepted by graphics software developers.

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046

    Yeah, I'm not too worried about being watch.  I mean Santa was watching, then God... Like once you get use to the idea Jesus is with you in the bathroom even, then well who cares if my life helps educate a few young up and coming AIs?  I'm not doing anything really interesting so if they look too hard they'll be bored to tears.  Punishment enough.

    ...don't forget....

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046

    I find it funny people completely ignore Goggle's pervasive data collection of their activities but get upset that MS does occacional advertising of their apps and services and bug collection activities on the Windows 10 platform.

    It's pretty simple. If I use a free service I expect the company to take data I deliberately gave them by entering it into the service.

    If I buy a program, I expect it not to send a whiff of data to the company unless it explicitly asks me first.

    ...yes

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046
    marble said:

    Here's the concern for me. The other day I was having a discussion on a private forum. Someone mentioned they had been listening to Pachalbel and I replied that I had put on Canon in D to listen to in bed. Shortly after that,my Facebook feed had a recommended page for Pachalbel and other similar music. So much for "private".

    ...Pinterest is another.  I was doing some historical research on my old hometown of Milwaukee WI one evening which included viewing images of old photos in Google. I clicked on several images to view them better.  Most likely one of those was on Pinterest as the next evening I received an email from their site touting Milwaukee Pins [I] May Like.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046

    We hear stories of A.I. taking over the world but I have noticed a rather sinister trend recently, AIs have taken up telephone scamming. I've had a few calls where an obviously synthesized voice has told me my Internet connection has been compromised and will be canceled unless I press 1 to connect to a technician to fix the problem.

    Hey, I've had that call a couple of times recently! Although the AI still needs a bit of work — I've only ever heard half of the blurb, because the recording at the other end starts while my answering machine is still giving its "nobody here" message. Argleblargle...

    BTW, interesting thing about voices there, I don't think it's synthesised, it sounds a bit more to me like a slightly better than usual attempt to mask an Asian accent.

    ...I've heard singers use such technology to make their voices sound more "appealing" (I can easily notice the difference).  There was even a karaoke outfit here in town that used similar technology (probably the only good use for it).

  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513

    I find it funny people completely ignore Goggle's pervasive data collection of their activities but get upset that MS does occacional advertising of their apps and services and bug collection activities on the Windows 10 platform.

    It's pretty simple. If I use a free service I expect the company to take data I deliberately gave them by entering it into the service.

    If I buy a program, I expect it not to send a whiff of data to the company unless it explicitly asks me first.

    No it's not. Nothing Google lets you have 'for free' is free. All of us are paying higher prices to pay for 'Google Services' even if their advertising is overpriced and ineffective we still pay higher prices for products because of it.

    Is this some kind of weird joke? Are products going to cost me less if I don't Google anything?

    Institutions and others must pay for supported versions of Google products. Sales in the GooglePlay store have a percentage of profit from the 3rd party vendor taken. Real individuals and businesses actually pay for advertising and that money goes to Google. Chromebooks and Android phones cost real money. How is any of that considered free?

    As far as I'm concerned none of Google's paid products should be sending data without asking unless it's a necessary part of the actual product (analytics maybe? custom search engine? search engine built into product?), I don't know why you think this is contradictory.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046

    ..was on my phone checking baseball scores on ESPN tonight and on the bottom of the screen there was a message about buying the latest Daz 3D products

  • ColdrakeColdrake Posts: 236
    edited April 2018

    If you don't like the advertisments or  "Suggested Apps" from the Windows store, you can turn them off. https://www.howtogeek.com/269331/how-to-disable-all-of-windows-10s-built-in-advertising/

     

    If you want to disable Cortana and don't feel comfortable hacking the registry, go to https://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/  scroll down to where it says, "Download Our One-Click Registry Hack" and download the zip file. Open the zip, click on the file and restart your computer (or sign in/ sign out) and your done. The zip also contains a file to enable Cortana if you change your mind.

     

     

    Post edited by Coldrake on
  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,416

    Nobody ever asked people if they wish their data collected and interpreted. And  some chosen people always collected data, cause having data allows you to manipulate other people.

    Doesn't matter if you just wish your tiny tribe to follow you throught the desert or intend to start a world war or want wo elect some awful man for president just wish to sell something...  You need data.

  • WahilWahil Posts: 308
    marble said:

    Here's the concern for me. The other day I was having a discussion on a private forum. Someone mentioned they had been listening to Pachalbel and I replied that I had put on Canon in D to listen to in bed. Shortly after that,my Facebook feed had a recommended page for Pachalbel and other similar music. So much for "private".

    Years ago I posted on a forum regularly.  One day some members were talking about Facebook.  So I created a Facebook account just to see what it was all about.  As soon as I created my account, Facebook said I didn't have any Facebook friends and recommended some.  I recognized two thirds of the people in the recommendations because they were people I've seen on the forum.  (Some of these people had used their real picture as an avatar at one time in the forum).

    My guess is FB checked the cookies on my computer to find out about the forum and compared it to data collected from other FB members's computers who also had cookies from the same forum, then recommended them to me as friends.  But it was creepy the way those friend recommendations of people from the forum appeared as soon as the FB account was created.  So I never became a FB user.

  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 7,137

    Have any of you seen the movie "The Circle" with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson? It's currently free on Amazon Prime if you have it. It's a fascinating movie of a company that seems to be a combination of Google and Facebook to the extreme and a possible future...

  • BobvanBobvan Posts: 2,653
    edited April 2018

    Like a tech at work calls W10. The birth of Skynet...

    Post edited by Bobvan on
  • bluejauntebluejaunte Posts: 1,991
    Bobvan said:

    Like a tech at work calls W10. The birth of Skynet...

    Eh sorry but that is one of the more stupid things I've heard laugh

  • BobvanBobvan Posts: 2,653
    edited April 2018
    Bobvan said:

    Like a tech at work calls W10. The birth of Skynet...

    Eh sorry but that is one of the more stupid things I've heard laugh

    Yawwwwwnnn...

    Post edited by Bobvan on
  • pretty much everything does now days everything with a smart device can even fridges, gaming machines with cameras, tvs, obviously computers again anything that has some sort of smart device, phones, internet and or camera can now be used to watch you

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 42,046

    ...cash machines at banks had cameras in them for a while now.

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