Microsoft Deems Privacy A Fundamental Right, Asks U.S. And EU Governments To Obey It

[Lucian Armasu]

Brad Smith, Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer, argued that privacy is a fundamental right of people in both the U.S. and the EU, and their governments will have agree on data transfer rules that respect that right.

Microsoft Deems Privacy A Fundamental Right, Asks U.S. And EU Governments To Obey It : Read more

 

[poochiepiano]

Windows 10 PR?

 

[frakyo]

A Company who spy users without consent fight for privacy... more twisted than that only in México (i'm mexican btw).

 

[Math Geek]

this does seem a bit ironic coming from a company that has decided to track and record literally everything done on a windows pc.

rather than worrying about how various countries try to abuse the data, why not simply not collect it in the first place!! i know this is just a stupid end user idea but it seems to me like not having the data in the first place is a sure fire way to prevent countries from trying to exploit said data. then again what do i know......

 

[ohim]

A Company who spy users without consent fight for privacy... more twisted than that only in México (i'm mexican btw).

so click`ing next without reading the Agreement it`s without consent ?

 

[lichurdeath]

frakyo - While I am sure MS has some task tracking on user machines. All companies do this. At the server level things are different. They do not track information on companies private data. If they did no company would use MS servers. The corporate market and the private market are night and day different. This article is specifically addressing private data held on servers within corporations. MS has been a huge proponent of positive change in the server industry for a long time. This is not the first time this topic has been brought up and not the first time MS has been spearheading it. It is in their best interest to guide companies to a secure data path. In turn it will generate revenue for them from companies that trust them and respect their stance.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

As more and more user data moves to the cloud

They speak as if this isn't something Microsoft is artificially forcing with their online accounts and other BS but rather just something that's kind of happening on its own... right.

Therefore, if an EU citizen travels to the U.S., Microsoft's legal officer believes that the U.S. law should apply when dealing with his data.

By this logic, if I own a gun in a US state where it's legal and then travel to the EU, I can get arrested for illegal possession of firearms, since EU law now applies to me. Is this guy serious?

 

[Math Geek]

if you take your gun with you and it is illegal there, then yes you would be arrested. the lawyer is saying that any data the visitor has on his/her person would fall under the law of the country he is in and not the country he is from.

this is how the rest of law works and he is stating that he wants data to follow similar logic. if you go to a country where something is illegal, then that law applies to you as well as residents. just because pot is legal in colorado, does not mean it is legal for a colorado resident to take it with them where ever they go. it's still illegal in the rest of the states around them except for a couple others. this is the same logic MS is working on using for data.

where the data is at the time is the law that should apply to it, not the home address of the person carrying it. US cloud storage should be under US law no matter who owns the data. EU cloud data should fall under EU law no matter who owns it, etc etc etc

 

[mforce2]

Damn I was tired and I first read the MS deems Piracy as a fundamental right and I was like hell high, I like em' now.....

Sure I suppose Privacy is also OK but I think they only want the so called Privacy to go against Google, I don't really believe they care much about their user's Privacy .... so much valuable data, it's a pity not to take a peek

 

[surphninja]

They should lead by example. Stop tracking everything Windows users do, stop looking through people's hotmail accounts without a warrant, declare that they're building in default encryption with no government back doors, etc.

Pretty hypocritical statement coming from a company that's constantly under investigation in the EU for violating privacy rights.

 

[surphninja]

The government should just respond with Microsoft's boilerplate excuse: "We're not violating privacy- we're simply monitoring your every move in order to provide you with better service."

 

[dextermat]

This is where you see that politician (now that government is "controlled" by industries) are two faces.

 

[jaber2]

The bigger the lie the more believable it becomes

 

[nings01]

Wait on Windows XP x64 since long time for a lighter/better Windows but W10 is the last and have major privacy leak...
So I switch to Debian Jessie and I'm really happy with this OS. No cloud, no sync, YOU control your computer and it's not the computer which control you.

Stop Windows/Apple and move to opensource OS, devs don't have the choice to follow us !
Microsoft/Apple don't have the choice to come back for try to retrieve lost customers.

Cloud is a bad thing for user privacy !

 

[Ephebus]

This must be the joke of the century. What a bunch of cynical hypocrites.

 

[The Wah]

"Microsoft Deems Privacy A Fundamental Right, Asks U.S. And EU Governments To Obey It"

Dear Pot... You are Black, Kind Regards... Kettle

 

[Achoo22]

so click`ing next without reading the Agreement it`s without consent ?

It can be, legally, yes. If every physician you go to requires signing a form (because of broken Patient Bill of Rights legislature) requiring wholesale records release, then you can make a strong legal argument that consent wasn't freely given. Only a moron would suggest that the best solution to spyware-filled operating systems is to stop using computers.

 

[Achoo22]

The government should just respond with Microsoft's boilerplate excuse: "We're not violating privacy- we're simply monitoring your every move in order to provide you with better service."

This is brilliant! Good job.

 

[Achoo22]

if you take your gun with you and it is illegal there, then yes you would be arrested. the lawyer is saying that any data the visitor has on his/her person would fall under the law of the country he is in and not the country he is from. this is how the rest of law works and he is stating that he wants data to follow similar logic.

One of us either misread or misunderstood the article, because I took from it the exact opposite. Microsoft wants the US government to lobby foreign governments before seizing data stored locally. Of course, Microsoft evidently believes that privacy is a fundamental right that should only be enjoyed by citizens of the EU. If you have offices in Mumbai, Karachi, or Dubai then you're probably some terror organization and Microsoft will continue assisting the US government in spying on you in every way they can. At least until your native governments threaten costly import bans on Microsoft software.

 

[alextheblue]

this does seem a bit ironic coming from a company that has decided to track and record literally everything done on a windows pc.

They collect less personalized (non-anonymous) data than a typical Android device. Yet I don't see everyone freaking out over those.

 

[palladin9479]

this does seem a bit ironic coming from a company that has decided to track and record literally everything done on a windows pc.

They collect less personalized (non-anonymous) data than a typical Android device. Yet I don't see everyone freaking out over those.

Oh no they don't. MS collects extremely personally identifiable data, including every file you open, it's type, original, how long you had it open, what programs you used, how long you used them, where they were stored and so forth. They collect all user activity, link it to both your login account and to your machines unique installation ID generated during install. At their server site, they then store that data for future sorting and data mining.

This is them trying to cover their butts because attempting this in the EU would be illegal as hell. With the legal minefield that's been developing, and the fact they have a history of being approached by US government entities demanding release of data, they are worried they could be in a bind where they are subject to EU legal action / sanctions for releasing data to the US government.

This could all be avoided if they wouldn't collect nearly as much or anonymize is such that tracing it to an individual would be impossible, but doing that could potentially lose them out on a ton of revenue from selling the metadata.

 

[Saga Lout]

That's only one of several reasons to be careful installing Windows 10, Palladin9479. Watch closely for the cleverly concealed "Customise my" button way to the left of the highly illuminated Next button and while customising, negate all four options on both of the first two setup pages. Once you're in left click the Start square and go to settings then Privacy. Reverse every default under every heading. Turn off WiFi Sense then if you were unfortunate enough to fall for the Microsoft account option, go to Control Panel>User Accounts and create a new local account, giving yourself Administrative rights. From Start choose LogOut then log in with the new account. Transfer any personal data from one account to the new one from c:\Users then back in User Accounts choose "Manage another account" and delete the MS account including the files.

Next, press the Windows key and R together and in the input box type
cleanmgr
and press Enter. Tick everything it offers you then click on "Clean system files" At this point you may need to decide to let go of the windows.old folder which wll mean you can't revert to the earlier system instead of having a month to think about it. Tick any extra boxes which showed up and let the system clear all the clutter. Check that the Recycle Bin is empty.

Finally, change the Computer Name in Control Panel>System and restart.

 

[itmoba]

Maybe using an air-gap would be better -- no risk of the machine calling home ever again. Too bad it isn't very practical for daily use for most people. Oh well, "c'est la vie."

 

[ChronosVRdS]

this does seem a bit ironic coming from a company that has decided to track and record literally everything done on a windows pc.

They collect less personalized (non-anonymous) data than a typical Android device. Yet I don't see everyone freaking out over those.

Oh no they don't. MS collects extremely personally identifiable data, including every file you open, it's type, original, how long you had it open, what programs you used, how long you used them, where they were stored and so forth. They collect all user activity, link it to both your login account and to your machines unique installation ID generated during install. At their server site, they then store that data for future sorting and data mining.

This is them trying to cover their butts because attempting this in the EU would be illegal as hell. With the legal minefield that's been developing, and the fact they have a history of being approached by US government entities demanding release of data, they are worried they could be in a bind where they are subject to EU legal action / sanctions for releasing data to the US government.

This could all be avoided if they wouldn't collect nearly as much or anonymize is such that tracing it to an individual would be impossible, but doing that could potentially lose them out on a ton of revenue from selling the metadata.

Please could you share the source about that affirmation? Also Win10 really has problems with privacy, but most of the collection is optional although default is to share. Not discording, just curious. The google android (not the pure AOSP) is in the same, if not worse, situation they collect and link to your google account in both cases you're not obligated to use their account to uso the O.S.

 

[ChronosVRdS]

so click`ing next without reading the Agreement it`s without consent ?

It can be, legally, yes. If every physician you go to requires signing a form (because of broken Patient Bill of Rights legislature) requiring wholesale records release, then you can make a strong legal argument that consent wasn't freely given. Only a moron would suggest that the best solution to spyware-filled operating systems is to stop using computers.

That makes no sense at all! Not using Windows isn't the same that "stop using a computer", if you don't like the "Spyware OS" just change to the countless GNU/Linux distributions or to OS X, if you want to use Windows you must agree and be bound to their contract, don't like use other product.