Microsoft says it has “listened to feedback” following a privacy row over a new tool which takes regular screenshots of users’ activity.
It was labelled a potential “privacy nightmare” by critics when it was unveiled in May 2024 - prompting the tech giant to postpone its release. It now plans to relaunch the artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool in November on its new CoPilot+ computers.
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When it initially announced the tool at its developer conference in May, Microsoft said it used AI “to make it possible to access virtually anything you have ever seen on your PC”, and likened it to having photographic memory. It said Recall could search through a users’ past activity, including their files, photos, emails and browsing history.
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But critics quickly raised concerns, given the quantity of sensitive data the system would harvest, with one expert labelling it a potential “privacy nightmare."
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[Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows and devices says] that “Windows offers tools to help you control your privacy and customise what gets saved for you to find later”.
However a technical blog about it states that “diagnostic data” from the tool may be shared with the firm depending on individual privacy settings.
[Microsoft says in a blog post that users can remove Recall entirely by using the optional features settings in Windows.]
The OS that comes preinstalled will always have the largest market share unfortunately. The average person is not going to install a linux iso to a usb and disable bitlocker and whatever else windows adds to make it harder to change the OS. That is before even setting it up and making sure everything works. It helps if you are friends with someone that is into installing operating systems that can help you but not everyone has that friend. The best linux can do is try and keep microsoft in line. Valve has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that regard. It is also why user friendly distros are so important. Somebody who thinks emails and the internet is the same thing is not going to go for Arch.