All,
Let me preface this with, this will be long-winded and just the first part and you will probably think I’m paranoid; I assure you I’m not paranoid, they really are out to get me
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This is like my fourth or fifth attempt at writing this particular piece about Windows 10 privacy or lack thereof. Windows 10 privacy is a myth and I’m pretty sure Windows privacy is a myth regardless of the OS! The difficulty that I’ve been having is similar to peeling a rotten onion in the every layer that you peel looking for the pure sweet core, just brings more tears to the eyes. I need to give you an understanding of why people want your computer both good and bad, basically it comes down to money and power.
Here is what I know for sure:
There are only three reasons why anyone would want in your computer without your knowledge which are as follows:
1. Hackers want to control your computer to steal credit card information, which ultimately leads to $$$$
2. Hackers want to control your computer to use it as a slave for sending spam, denial of service another nefarious acts. Again this brings money.
3. Power, this one has many subcategories, as in north of the 51st parallel it would be called bill C 51 which in my opinion effectively turns Canada into a police state where the police can spying on any citizen without a warrant at any time with or without justification. I’m sure South of the border and NSA and homeland security have similar types of power now. More on this later.
As a professional geek of decades, I see more computers in a year than most people will see in a lifetime and I can tell you (and I do not wish to be insulting) that most people are 100% boring and the things they consider secret really are not to secret. This is why the above three reasons is the only three reasons that matter, nobody really cares about the forms you read, the articles you read or for that matter the porn you watch with the possible exception of the police and security agencies. The hackers of the world want to make money off your computer and that is why your computers worth the investment of time and effort. This is why hacking something like Ashley Madison is worth 1000 hours of effort; do not doubt for a minute that those credit card numbers were not compromised months in advance of the actual release of data to the world. I would imagine Ashley Madison is a perfect target/hack, in that the only reason you would be on the site is because you’re cheating on your spouse and if you saw extra charges on your credit card I am just about 100% sure that you would not make a big fuss about it other than you would quietly change your credit card number because you would not want your spouse to find out.
I also need to define the term “Hacker” because the media has a distorted view of what a real hacker is, actually the media has a distorted view of what the real world is. 25 years ago a hacker was defined as a person he knew the system so well they could basically make the system do anything you wanted to do. They would go in and literally “hack the code”on-the-fly to make the system do what you wanted to do. Today we call those people “system administrators”. Today you’re all aware of what the media wants you to believe a hacker is. I can tell you that the media is basically clueless, because the kids that are caught and called hackers, are basically copying code from a real hacker and learning to sharpen their claws. Real hackers don’t get caught because they know how to cover their tracks. Hackers come in two flavors, white hats and black hats. Some of the hackers become security experts and use their skills to protect corporation’s and people at large, some of the hackers end up in organize crime.
Now there is a new group and I don’t wish to call them hackers because they walk around in three-piece suits with ties but 100 years ago they would have been called carpetbaggers and are the J.P. Morgan’s of the world. Apple, Google and Microsoft are among the three biggest today. They use the legal agreements and acceptable use policies to get access to your computer for money, power or both. It is a fact of life.
In my search to find out the extent of this invasion I have come across forms were members claiming to work for the three major companies listed above and more have stated that the government (presumably US) has informally asked coders directly/indirectly to insert back-doors for them. The same people have all said there has never been an official request for any back-doors/spying but they’re doing it. This is how the CEOs can quite honestly say the government has never made a request for backdoors. The long and the short of it is quite simply is; unless you wrote the code yourself you potentially could be at risk.
That is enough background, and should give you an understanding why people want into your computer and to be able to control it, now let’s get into Windows 10.
Everybody knows that when you install Windows 10 that Microsoft has written the install procedures to connect your computer with the mothership. Basically every keystroke and most click ends up at Microsoft. They deny actually looking at the data however logic dictates “if you’re not looking at the data then why are you collecting the data” conversely “your collecting data because you are looking at the data otherwise you would not want to collect it”. Microsoft executives have tried to dismiss this and there are many articles around the fact that they fell short in their explanations. Security experts and privacy groups are up in arms over these practices and I for one have an easier time believing security experts and privacy groups than some suit saying “oh no no no we’re not doing anything wrong ” clearly Microsoft has been caught with their hand is in the cookie jar. In previous parts of this thread there are many things that will help secure your computer or may give you the illusion that your computer is secure. However if you believe the unofficial request for back-doors, then nothing you can do will make your computer secure from the government. In the examples below are examples from Microsoft that we can see, the back-doors you will never see.
For example:
http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/according-to- ... s/45349143
According to new reports, Windows 10 continues to send identifiable data to Microsoft, even if users have turned on all privacy settings New analysis from Ars Technica revealed that some of Windows 10's apps and services will communicate with Microsoft's servers, even if the software's set privacy settings tell them not to
http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... microsoft/
“Even when told not to, Windows 10 just can’t stop talking to Microsoft” “It's no wonder that privacy activists are up in arms.”
http://betanews.com/2015/08/13/windows- ... -settings/
“Windows 10 phones home to Microsoft even if you change privacy settings”
And as previously stated earlier in the thread Microsoft has expanded of these tactics to Windows 7 and the
http://www.infoworld.com/article/297905 ... osoft.html
“Windows 7, 8, and 10: Now all collecting user data for Microsoft”
There are legitimate reasons for Microsoft wanting data about your computer, to fix blue screens of death for example, to find out what type of hardware people are buying because there’s no point in writing device drivers for a video card that nobody’s using. However it is unforgivable to collect data in any way shape or form for any reason when A person has turned everything off. This is a violation of trust that is unbelievable.
In a long-winded email that I’m preparing to send the managers of Microsoft (
manager@microsoft.com) contains the following:
- You’ve hardcoded IP addresses into certain DLLs which further adds to the lack of trust in the equation, this is a tactic that malware and hackers use not a respectable companies.
Whatever trust Microsoft has built up has been eroded in the last two months and your spin doctors won’t get much traction because nobody believes what you’re saying anymore because the trust is gone. Quite frankly your actions speaks louder than words.
In today’s world Microsoft is clearly under the microscope because of these tactics and quite frankly it is asinine to believe that Microsoft has more smarts and brainpower than security experts, privacy experts or for that matter a kid with a network sniffer. When you do not tell the whole truth and the complete truth you come across as liars and spin doctors.
If you’re going to let corporate clients opt out of these privacy issues why not let all clients opt out, is it because you’re afraid that you won’t collect any data and lose the marketing revenue.
The Microsoft spin doctors would have us all believe that Microsoft is the benevolent big brother who is incapable of do anything wrong. When the reality is, with very little “Googling” one can easily find enough smoking guns to convince any logical person they’re lying through their teeth. Google has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar more than once and Apple isn’t any better they’re just better covering it up because Mac users don’t appear to care.