Windows 10 data collection

[PyROm]

Anyone read this? sounds worrying if trying the preview in school, especially if the people logging into the pc haven't been given the EULA to read ... Windows 10's 'built-in keylogger'? Ha ha, says Microsoft – no, it just monitors your typing • The Register

[JRowley]

I've read about the data tracking (or whatever you wish to call it, aggressive feedback?), our test VMs are being kept completely isolated as a result.

[SovietRussia]

hehe ive got it on my laptop - COME AT ME M$

[Arthur]

It's ridiculous how much FUD is being spread over the telemetry feature in the Tech Preview. Some sites, like Neowin, have even posted articles that are completely false.

 

Windows 10: You've got questions, I've got answers « ZDNet

 

Does Windows 10 really include a keylogger?

 

Here we go again.

 

With Windows 10, Microsoft has adopted a rapid-update development cycle. Maybe that faster pace is affecting the tech press too, because it took less than a week for the first Windows 10-driven conspiracy theory to burst onto the scene.

 

It started with a Friday-afternoon article in The Inquirer, a tech tabloid known for its breathless headlines and factually challenged prose. In true Inky fashion, the headline declared that Windows 10 "has permission to watch your every move," adding, ominously: "Its 'privacy' policy includes permission to use a keylogger."

 

From a legalistic point of view, this headline is cleverly constructed. It doesn't actually say that Windows 10 contains surveillance software that monitors your keystrokes and sends a log of those keystrokes to Redmond. In fact, the implication that there is an actual keylogger embedded in the Windows 10 code is contradicted by this key graf, buried near the end of the story:

 

In other words, in effect, you are giving permission for Microsoft to screen your files, and in effect keylog your keyboard input. [emphasis added]

 

“In effect.” Not in actuality. And in fact there’s little evidence that the author has enough background in computer science or security to tell a keylogger from a key lime pie.

 

But the story was picked up by a few other sources and fits neatly into conspiracy theories, so here’s a bucket of cold water to pour on the rumors.

 

The Windows 10 Technical Preview is an instrumented version. It collects information about your use of the product, including some text and voice input, and returns some of that data to Microsoft for use in tuning performance and improving voice recognition and spell-checking.

 

That’s a far cry from a keylogger, which is a surveillance tool that indiscriminately collects every keystroke on a PC and transmits it (usually surreptitiously) to a remote location.

 

The data collected by the Windows 10 telemetry tools is limited, but the process of collecting this information can result in inadvertent information disclosure. This isn't a new problem: enterprise customers have to be careful to configure Windows Error Reporting properly when setting up released versions of Windows on production machines.

 

If you’re concerned that files you’re working with contain confidential information, you probably shouldn't be using the Windows 10 Technical Preview to open them.

 

Windows 10's "Keylogger" Fiasco Has Been Blown Out of Proportion « Lifehacker

 

Over the past few days, many news outlets have been publishing articles stating that the Windows 10 Technical Preview is a "keylogger," is "spying" on you, or collecting "private data." Many of these are, at best, misleading.

 

To start: Yes, the Windows 10 Technical Preview does have the ability to collect more than you'd expect from the average Windows operating system.

 

However, many sites reporting on this fail to mention a few very important points:

 

• This is not only unsurprising, this is the entire point of the Technical Preview. The Technical Preview exists for Microsoft to study how people use the system, gather feedback, and improve the product before it releases it to consumers. And it states this on the download page.
  
• This is not a feature of Windows 10—this exists only for the Technical Preview and will be removed from the final version of Windows 10.
  
• As we've already said, you should not be using the Technical Preview for anything even remotely sensitive—you should only be using it to get a peek at what's coming in Windows, and give feedback to Microsoft. Not only are they collecting diagnostics, but Windows 10 can be buggy, crash-prone, and insecure.
  
• Some of these features, like speech-to-text, will always need to send your data back to Microsoft. OS X, iOS, and Android all include this feature, for example.
  

Some just fail to point out the logic in the tracking, while others—like this (now pulled) post from Neowin—take it to some seriously false extremes.

 

As we've already said, don't use this Technical Preview for any sort of daily work—we only recommend installing it in a test environment for checking out what's new and giving feedback to Microsoft. For this, and many other reasons, it is not ready to be used as your daily driver.

[jamesb]

Anyone read this? sounds worrying if trying the preview in school, especially if the people logging into the pc haven't been given the EULA to read ... Windows 10's 'built-in keylogger'? Ha ha, says Microsoft – no, it just monitors your typing • The Register

 

Does make me wonder why anyone would be using a tech preview, basically an open beta test, on production systems which users will be logging into.

[jamesbmarshall]

Does make me wonder why anyone would be using a tech preview, basically an open beta test, on production systems which users will be logging into.

 

Exactly. It's a technical preview, folks.

[Zoom7000]

Kinda like bendgate and hairgate, the media just want to tear down the big corps like Apple & Microsoft with sensationalist stories.

 

It makes me laugh how many people I've seen complain on forums saying stuff like "I hate Windows 10, all they've done is take Windows 8 and throw in a Start Menu!", "Microsoft are thieving buggers! This should be a service pack!" Etc Etc. If you don't know what a Technical Preview is, you really shouldn't be installing it on any PC, let alone user PCs in production environments!

[Patrick]

Running it as my main OS on my desktop at home because windows 8.1 threw a wobble and I couldn't find the disk...Windows 10 tech preview is very stable and have no worries about this feedback "keylogger"...