French Data Protection Authority Accuses Microsoft Of 'Excessive Data Collection' In Windows 10

[Lucian Armasu]

The French Data Protection agency, CNIL, filed a formal complaint against Microsoft, accusing it of violating French and EU privacy laws due to its "excessive data collection" that's "not necessary for the operation of the services" in Windows 10.

French Data Protection Authority Accuses Microsoft Of 'Excessive Data Collection' In Windows 10 : Read more

 

[Puiucs]

"all the apps downloaded and installed on the system, as well as how much time the user spends using each one of them"
i'm sorry, but who the hell thinks this is a problem? this is one of the most idiotic things to complain about that i've seen in many years.

 

[junkeymonkey]

''BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The French data protection authority on Wednesday ordered Microsoft Corp to stop collecting excessive data on users of its Windows 10 operating system and serving them personalized ads without their consent.''

so in france when they install 10 there was no 'I AGREE'' to all the terms to proceed to finish the install of the os ??

anyone who can read and comprehend knows better than to install 10 to start with - face it there OS's are not getting any better and its all about them your out . just microsofts tactics to con/ trick/ lure/ stromg arm ect.... you in to the 10 trap should tell you beware right off the bat main this was Microsoft and free just did not add up to start with .

but look at the bright side you got DX12, DX12 omg you got DX12 ,yup you got it all right ..

at least it seems there government is looking out for there folks personal well being and privacy [??] who's looking out for you here in the U.S ? God bless America ...

 

[therealduckofdeath]

True. Steam shares that information right out to the internet to anyone who knows or can guess your steam user ID.
I can agree that it's imperative that a person shouldn't easily be connected to an account by software devs. If that's the case in the Windows Store, that's a reason to shut it down immediately. But, how many times and how often you use apps with your account is something every app store shares.

 

[clonazepam]

I fully support the French/EU developing an operating system that suits their needs.

 

[anbello262]

I really don't believe it's such a big deal. And to theEone calling it 'win10 trap', that's right off exaggerating, for me.
After all, you most likely use google (or sites that use their ads), so all your internet habits are already well known by companies. Most people have Facebook, and that provides a lot more info than any win10 cookie. And, most likely, win7/8 do their fair share of data collection too.
I seriously doubt you use a secure OS and do all your browsing through Tor, so thinking that 'your privacy is safe' just because you avoid win10 is quite naive in my opinion.

And, again, in my own personal opinion, I really don't see the issue with corporations gathering my data. They won't do anything with it that will affect me. Some stranger that I'll never meet in my life knows about my computer habits? So what?

 

[jossrik]

You can turn most if not all of that stuff off anyhow, not necessarily saying M$ is making that easy or well known, but there you have it, and, as has been said, companies have been collecting used data for years, even before PCs got big there was the neilsen rating and such to collect data, the thing I don't like is people acting like it's never happened before without their strict consent. It's not like they're sending my ex my browsing habits.
TL;DR: They're both off their rockers. French for acting like this is new, M$ for acting like it's supposed to be that way.

 

[hannibal]

The problem is that Apple do the exact same thing, it knows exacly what app I use, how much etc. Steam is another as mentioned above, google collect a lot of information Also.
Maybe france should ban internet...
... But nothing wrong in that customers should be protected but I really hope that then the whole ict industry would be accused because They all use same data collecting methods, now it seems more like some companions has to follow the rules and some don't have to. And that is not right when we talk about companions that compete with each others. They all should follow same rules!

 

[mitch074]

The notice isn't about the fact that Win10 collects that data, but that it's collected without user information not consent, and on top of that safeguarded with a protection which can be broken in seconds.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

I really don't believe it's such a big deal. And to theEone calling it 'win10 trap', that's right off exaggerating, for me.
After all, you most likely use google (or sites that use their ads), so all your internet habits are already well known by companies. Most people have Facebook, and that provides a lot more info than any win10 cookie. And, most likely, win7/8 do their fair share of data collection too.
I seriously doubt you use a secure OS and do all your browsing through Tor, so thinking that 'your privacy is safe' just because you avoid win10 is quite naive in my opinion.

And, again, in my own personal opinion, I really don't see the issue with corporations gathering my data. They won't do anything with it that will affect me. Some stranger that I'll never meet in my life knows about my computer habits? So what?

Problem is, you got the U.S.Guv mandating (at their will and request) they get all info on record of individuals, followed up with a "oh, yeah. You can't tell anyone that we wanted the info and data on file on account 'xxxxxxxxxx'" (Thankfully, at least according to Google, they only comply if the request isn't too broad and/or encompassing.) Why should this matter? What if the Govt that makes the request uses it to profile who to watch, as if they were (regarless of they are or are not) enemies of the state. The determination may be based on a simple statement of "I don't like so-and-so" which may have no bearing on your disposition of the gov't they work in.

 

[junkeymonkey]

I guess lets face it , like for me only reason I use windows today is just for the ease of gaming , Linux does all the rest just as good or better for a lot less money [free] and its not under attack as windows all ways seems to be from like hackers or malware out side of gaming who needs windows anyway ?? as far as I see it that's all they got going for them anymore that's about it

how many of you chose windows because of IE11 or that great edge ?? it just because you can load and go games due to microsofts strangle hold on developers with there direct x or any of the window proprietary code , that's it .

 

[wifiburger]

what's that?, use windows just for gamming!, getting forced to use a garbage product so you can still play video game is still shit,
glad there's other options for gamming without a microsoft garbage ecosystem,
man they suck at everything

 

[alextheblue]

The notice isn't about the fact that Win10 collects that data, but that it's collected without user information not consent, and on top of that safeguarded with a protection which can be broken in seconds.

Well sure, if they've already A) logged in under your MS account on YOUR system and broken your password or B) Logged into your account on a different machine and broke your password AND your second-factor authentication. Without managing to tip anyone off that there's something fishy and getting any alerts.

The Store PIN is really just there to keep Little Johnny from buying anything from the Store on daddy's account. Unless they're talking about the PIN on the lock screen of mobile devices. Which someone would have to steal for that to matter, and still doesn't give them access to all your data. You still have a password and such on your account, and in my case I use an authenticator as my second factor.

 

[LuxZg]

Ok, I know most people already commented it but really... really? Apple and Google have way more users, their stores collect all the same data, have been doing it for 8 years or so, etc. Also, all of them give you EULA either on device install and/or on store activation and/or on account creation. Actually, MS is most liberal, as you can now install apps without having account if I'm not mistaken. And don't they all transfer data to US at least partially? Despite them all having multiple EU based datacenters. So while MS has 10 million users of W10 in France, where is a notice for hundred million of Google's Android users? I really appreciate governments and agencies keeping track on big corps... but I certainly don't appreciate when one corp is singled out instead of the same notice being sent to everyone that behave the same way. And especially when one corp singled out has 10x or 100x less users affected, compared to the competitors that do the exact same things.

 

[mitch074]

Google and Apple are already under investigation at an European level. From what I know, the main pain point the CNIL has with Microsoft, is that the main protection is as tough as soup; Google and Apple at the very least use complex passwords and strongly encourage 2-layer identification; Microsoft uses a 4-digit PIN code with neither restriction on the number of attempts nor on the delay between 2 attempts.

 

[ccampy]

Microsoft uses a 4 digit pin

Only if you want to use a pin you can choose a password and uses more then 4 digits in your pin code