While its harder to justify pirated software, do we really want our OS’s disabling our modified X Box controllers? Or even snooping through our computers? Is it even legal?
I should add: If a hacker got control of this software, might they not have complete and total access to our computers? Could this possibly be a worse idea?
What? Microsoft coding security breaches into their own software? Unpossible!
I call bullshit, and I think it’s incredibly presumptuous to interpret a line in a EULA as saying that Microsoft cares at all about whether you have pirated non-Microsoft software. That doesn’t mean that it might not be a legitimate security concern, but you can’t make assumptions about it (for example the sometime scary-sounding warnings when you install Android software).
Bear in mind that the express install of Win10 gives MS permission to read your email, just in case.
Unless they were searching through our files how could they find content that they would disable?
The point I was trying to make is that by default, Windows 10 tracks every single thing you do with your computer and reports it back to Microsoft so they can sell the information to advertisers and send you specifically-targeted advertising based on your computer use. And that’s the most optimistic way of putting it. They are searching your files, and your browsing history, and your application use. They’re reading your email and tracking how long you spend on each page, and what websites you go to, and in what order. Tracking whether or not I’m doing something that’s actually illegal would be the least of the things that I’d be worried about, as I don’t do any of those illegal things.
Your mileage, may, of course, vary. And Microsoft will know.
There is a reason the upgrade is free, folks.
And optional.
Does it do any good to not log in to the Microsoft stuff?
It is possible to cut out a lot of Win10’s snooping by doing a custom install and cutting Win10 off at the knees whenever you get the chance, but this particular excitement may be separate from that. Since they’re talking about it as “something we have to do to support the law,” it may not be possible to opt out of it without buying a Mac or Linux.
Or, you know, don’t break the law.
That is a lot of bandwidth.
What I’m hearing is, I should switch to Linux.
Linux proponents have been saying that for a while now.
But it’s not going to be free a year from now. Will Microsoft strip these features when windows 10 goes paid? Somehow I doubt that.
Is it the home version, that will not network?
Because Apple is well known to have benevolent TOSes?
News to me; I’m not a Mac guy. Every time I turn around, Mac peeps are beating the “Better than Windows in Every Measurable Way” drum pretty darn hard, so I just figured they were less totalitarian in their government-desired data-gathering.
I would be more interested in Apple devices if they were manufactured in the United States rather than China.
That’s because they are creating a ticking clock to try and get as many people to upgrade as possible. If it’s free forever, you could always put off the upgrade.
Oh, and that part of the license doesn’t refer to Windows 10. There’s a reason why it only talks about games, and not software, and why it uses the word counterfeit. The services covered are stuff like Xbox Live. Not even the App Store is covered by that–though it has a similar line about Microsoft being able to disable illegally gotten apps.
The line is basically Microsoft saying they can put out updates that disable whatever mods you make to your Xbox (360/One) that let you play pirated games. You know, just like Sony and Nintendo do all the time.
Or at least, that’s what the hacker circles I’ve seen say. (I keep up, even though I don’t really pirate anymore–outside of abandonware or as a way to play games I’ve bought on Steam without actually trying to install it.)