News Recall drawing regulatory scrutiny in the UK — Microsoft's AI Copilot+ feature a 'privacy nightmare

[Admin]

The UK Information Commissioner's Office is concerned about the privacy risks of Microsoft's new "Recall" feature on Copilot+ PCs, a concern shared by many in the industry.

Recall drawing regulatory scrutiny in the UK — Microsoft's AI Copilot+ feature a 'privacy nightmare : Read more

 

[hotaru251]

as it should.

Recall on a device that is known to be vulnerable to attacks & the OS itself scalps your data to sell to others w/ boatloads of telemetry beign sent...thats a MAJOR issue for a private citizen.

 

[Metal Messiah.]

........it will be baked into the Windows operating system starting with Windows 11 24H2 on Copilot+ PCs, and can't be fully removed or disabled (perhaps it could by editing the registry, but that carries risk).

Yes, we can easily disable "Recall" permanently ! Since this is just a “photographic memory" AI explorer app made by MS, being dubbed weirdly as "recall".

Just go here, under Win 11 24H2:

Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots, and then just turn off the “Save snapshots” toggle switch. After this, it will stop taking snapshots of every activity you do on your PC.

And yes, it works, as tested !

 

[MatheusNRei]

Yes, we can easily disable "Recall" permanently ! Since this is just a “photographic memory" AI explorer app made by MS, being dubbed weirdly as "recall".

Just go here, under Win 11 24H2:

Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots, and then just turn off the “Save snapshots” toggle switch. After this, it will stop taking snapshots of every activity you do on your PC.

And yes, it works, as tested !

He probably meant "remove completely".

Just toggling it off is useless if someone else has access to your computer and can enable it again.

It's like disabling a webcam by disabling the driver VS unplugging it entirely.

 

[CmdrShepard]

The UK governmentt is "making enquiries" with Microsoft.

Yeah I can bet... they are inquiring whether they can tap into that data too.

 

[ezst036]

This Recall even has Elon Musk out there saying it's time to move on from Windows and upgrade to Linux.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40433162

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792693133651918989

View: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1792693133651918989


The context here, seemingly disconnected, is something Nadella was saying in a XTwitter video.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

This feature seems dumb and should not even be on the OS period. Forgive me if I’m not trusting of all of Microsoft’s claims that the snapshots are private and that they actually disable the feature just because you toggle a button.

 

[CmdrShepard]

Yes, we can easily pretend to disable "Recall" permanently ! Since this is just a “photographic memory" AI explorer app made by MS, being dubbed weirdly as "recall".

FTFY.

By the way, for now it's just recording snapshots, next step will be policing them for inappropriate content and punishing you accordingly.

 

[A Stoner]

Windows loves to reset your toggles. At work we have to have certain things turned on or off in their browser to get our programs to function, and every single browser update changes every last toggle back to default.

 

[CelicaGT]

The faster MS ditched Nadella the better. He's completely tone deaf and a blight on the industry. I'm sure stocks are up...

 

[ThomasKinsley]

"Recall is a key part of what makes Copilot+ PCs special"

If Picture-Snapper 5000 is the key ingredient behind Copilot+, then Microsoft needs to go back to the kitchen because I've yet to see one person genuinely excited over this feature.

 

[NeoMorpheus]

This feature seems dumb and should not even be on the OS period. Forgive me if I’m not trusting of all of Microsoft’s claims that the snapshots are private and that they actually disable the feature just because you toggle a button.

I honestly dont know which is worse, believing that a togle will realy stop this or that its really keeping all local.

Haven we learned anything from W10 (modifying HOSTS file was bypassed by the OS for example) to W11 (forcing us more and more to use MS accounts)?

I swear, we deserve everything that it’s happening by still trusting these companies.

 

[endocine]

Yeah I can bet... they are inquiring whether they can tap into that data too.

This ^^^ is why all of these telemetry features haven't been limited by our governments

 

[das_stig]

I have no issues with Microsoft doing all this, if they remove Edge completely from Windows and make it an optional download like any other browser, in fact I think it's time the regulators of the world stood together and demand this, along with other applications Microsoft provides like Media Player, that they are using in a monopoly environment !

 

[CmdrShepard]

I have no issues with Microsoft doing all this, if they remove Edge completely from Windows and make it an optional download like any other browser, in fact I think it's time the regulators of the world stood together and demand this, along with other applications Microsoft provides like Media Player, that they are using in a monopoly environment !

So let me get this straight -- you would be OK with Microsoft recording snapshots of your activity (and possibly sharing them with authorities with or without the warrant), but not being able to uninstall Edge or Media Player is too much for you?!?

Dumb and uninformed statements like this are the reason people complaining about Microsoft behavior are not being taken seriously.

First, you can uninstall Microsoft Edge completely (replace x.y.z.w with actual version number you find in the Application folder):

"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application\x.y.z.w\Installer\setup.exe" --uninstall --system-level --verbose-logging --force-uninstall

However, some new applications rely on WebView2 control which is provided by the browser so if you don't want Microsoft Edge reinstalled then just grab Evergreen Standalone Installer from this page and install WebView2 runtime so you have a single system-wide instance which will be kept up-to-date and so you don't break those applications that need WebView2 to work.

Second, you can uninstall Windows Media Player too if you are so hell-bent on causing trouble for yourself and making your system less functional:

DISM.EXE /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:WindowsMediaPlayer /Remove

Bear in mind that applications which use Windows Media Player ActiveX control to play media will just crash if it's not present on the system. Also, if you run this with /Remove switch you won't be able to restore it without reinstalling Windows. You have been warned.

That said, I am a hardcore control freak when it comes to computers but even I don't uninstall Media Player because it's not worth the risk that something I want to use will break. I just associate MPC-HC for all media files and Media Player sits there unused.

TL;DR -- you can blame Microsoft for all sorts of crappy things they do, but make sure you blame them for things that are true so you don't make us all look ridiculous.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I’d be ok with them having to remove the browser and media player. VLC media player anyone? As for a browser I’m using DuckDuckGo at home these days as Google is going to track you as well.

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

I just dumped my last Windows machine, nope.

If this is the best they have, they deserve nothing.

 

[jp7189]

I have no issues with Microsoft doing all this, if they remove Edge completely from Windows and make it an optional download like any other browser, in fact I think it's time the regulators of the world stood together and demand this, along with other applications Microsoft provides like Media Player, that they are using in a monopoly environment !

Happy 20th anniversary! Microsoft has produced N and KN versions of Windows to comply with regulations to remove media player and the builtin browser since 2004.

Use one of those.

 

[CmdrShepard]

I’d be ok with them having to remove the browser and media player.

As it has been pointed out already, not only they can be removed but you also have N and KN editions where it's already removed.

VLC media player anyone?

VLC is a piece of crap.

Last time I used it was before they pulled that "we are going to put every file you play in a playlist and remember it" stunt.

I couldn't find a way to disable the playlist GUI and playback history and revert it to the old behavior where it just played the damn file I launched it with so into the trash it went never to return.

MPC-HC rules.

As for a browser I’m using DuckDuckGo at home these days as Google is going to track you as well.

Good luck finding anything except pr0n in DDG -- I heard it's really good for that though.

 

[USAFRet]

VLC is a piece of crap.

Last time I used it was before they pulled that "we are going to put every file you play in a playlist and remember it" stunt.

I couldn't find a way to disable the playlist GUI and playback history and revert it to the old behavior where it just played the damn file I launched it with so into the trash it went never to return.

I use it all the time, with nary a problem.

 

[CmdrShepard]

I use it all the time, with nary a problem.

Did they add the option to disable playlist, or it doesn't bother you?

 

[USAFRet]

Did they add the option to disable playlist, or it doesn't bother you?

The playlist exists, but I've never seen it retain past selections.
Every time I open it, the playlist is blank.
Currently, v3.0.20

I select a bunch of audio/video, hit play, it cycles through.

 

[CmdrShepard]

The playlist exists, but I've never seen it retain past selections.
Every time I open it, the playlist is blank.
Currently, v3.0.20

I select a bunch of audio/video, hit play, it cycles through.

That means they changed default behavior.

When playlist was introduced it was always visible and it was retaining files.

I see that the player itself still retains a list of recently opened files in File menu by default which I also dislike, but it seems they improved the playlist behavior which is good because it was atrocious when it was introduced.

 

[USAFRet]

That means they changed default behavior.

When playlist was introduced it was always visible and it was retaining files.

I see that the player itself still retains a list of recently opened files in File menu by default which I also dislike, but it seems they improved the playlist behavior which is good because it was atrocious when it was introduced.

For me, it has been that way forever. I have not noticed any change.

I use this regularly to review video from my security cams, or the little flying robot.

You may have some different default settings.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Personally I’ve been using duck duck go for years and I get about as good as results as any other search engine. I work in IT so I’m using it the majority of the time at work.

I’ve also used vlc for years. Don’t know anything about them tracking never seen that yet but I’m sure they are no worse than Microsoft or Google and it actually works! What a concept.

As far as the K and KN editions, shouldn’t need house for things that shouldn’t be in the os to removed to begin with.