Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...

, a

proprietary {{Short pages monitor Concerns were shown by advocates and other critics for Windows10's privacy policies and its collection and use of customer data. Under the default "Express" settings, Windows 10 is configured to send various information to Microsoft and other parties, including the collection of user contacts, calendar data, computer's appearance including color of the chassis and "associated input data" to personalize "speech, typing, and inking input", typing and inking data to improve recognition, allow apps to use a unique "advertising ID" for analytics and advertising personalization (functionality introduced by Windows 8.1) and allow apps to request the user's location data and send this data to Microsoft and "trusted partners" to improve location detection (Windows 8 had similar settings, except that location data collection did not include "trusted partners"). Users can opt out from most of this data collection, but telemetry data for error reporting and usage is also sent to Microsoft, and this cannot be disabled on non-Enterprise versions of Windows 10. The use of Cortana

intelligent personal assistant An intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) or intelligent personal assistant (IPA) is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on commands or questions. The term "chatbot" is sometimes used to refer to virtual ...

also requires the collection of data "such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device” to personalize its functionality. ''

Rock Paper Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

'' writer Alec Meer argued that Microsoft's intent for this data collection lacked transparency, stating that "there is no world in which 45 pages of policy documents and opt-out settings split across 13 different Settings screens and an external website constitutes 'real transparency'." ''ExtremeTech'' pointed out that, whilst previously campaigning against

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

for similar data collection strategies, " icrosoftnow hoovers up your data in ways that would make Google jealous." However, it was also pointed out that the requirement for such vast usage of customer data had become a norm, citing the increased reliance on

cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...

and other forms of external processing, as well as similar data collection requirements for services on mobile devices such as

Google Now Google Now was a feature of Google Search of the Google app for Android and iOS. Google Now proactively delivered information to users to predict (based on search habits and other factors) information they may need in the form of informational ...

and

Siri Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer qu ...

. In August 2015, Russian politician

Nikolai Levichev Nikolai Vladimirovich Levichev (russian: Николай Владимирович Левичев; born May 28, 1953) is a Russian politician. Since February 24, 2016, he has been a member of Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, ...

called for Windows 10 to be banned from use by the Russian government, as it sends user data to servers in the United States (a federal law requiring all online services to store the data of Russian users on servers within the country, or be blocked, took effect September 2016). Writing for ''

ZDNet ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication. His ...

'', Ed Bott said that the lack of complaints by businesses about privacy in Windows10 indicated "how utterly normal those privacy terms are in 2015." In a '' Computerworld'' editorial, Preston Gralla said, "The kind of information Windows10 gathers is no different from what other operating systems gather. But Microsoft is held to a different standard than other companies." Microsoft Services Agreement reads that the company's online services may automatically "download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices." Critics interpreted this statement as implying that Microsoft would scan for and delete unlicensed software installed on devices running Windows10. However, others pointed out that this agreement was specifically for Microsoft online services such as Microsoft account,

Office 365 Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name ...

, Skype, as well as Xbox Live, and that the offending passage most likely referred to digital rights management on Xbox consoles and first-party games, and not plans to police pirated video games installed on Windows10 PCs. Despite this, some

torrent tracker A BitTorrent tracker is a special type of server that assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol. In peer-to-peer file sharing, a software client on an end-user PC requests a file, and portions of the requested fi ...

s announced plans to block Windows10 users, also arguing that the operating system could send information to anti-piracy groups that are affiliated with Microsoft. Writing about these allegations, Ed Bott of ''ZDNet'' compared Microsoft's privacy policy to Apple's and Google's and concluded that "after carefully reading the Microsoft Services Agreement, the Windows license agreement...and the Microsoft Privacy Statement carefully, I don't see anything that looks remotely like Big Brother." Columnist

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born 1967) is the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security. ...

argued that "Microsoft might in the future run scans and disable software or hardware it sees as a security threat," consistent with the Windows10 update policy. Following the release of 10, allegations also surfaced that Microsoft had backported the operating system's increased data collection to

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

and

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...

via "recommended" patches that added additional "telemetry" features. The updates' addition of a "Diagnostics Tracking Service" is connected specifically to Microsoft's existing Customer Experience Improvement Program (which is an opt-in program that sends additional diagnostic information to Microsoft for addressing issues), and the Application Experience service, which is typically intended for third-party software compatibility requests. This was achieved by including various DLLs and adding the telemetry service executable (all of which notably have versions pertaining to Windows 10 builds) as part of various updates from 2016 onward. The data collection functionality is capable of transmitting personal information, browsing history, the contents of emails, chat, video calls, voice mail, photos, documents, personal files and keystrokes to Microsoft, for analysis, in accordance with the End User License Agreement. The terms of services agreement from Microsoft was updated to state the following: In October 2017, the Dutch Data Protection Authority issued a complaint asserting that Windows10's privacy policies did not comply with the laws of the Netherlands, as it claims that Microsoft does not provide sufficient information on what information is collected at the "Full" telemetry level and how it is processed. Microsoft disputed the claim that it did not provide enough disclosure of the "Full" telemetry level, and stated that it was working with the DDPA to "find appropriate solutions".

Antitrust issues

In November 2016,

Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Lab (; Russian: Лаборатория Касперского, tr. ''Laboratoriya Kasperskogo'') is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in th ...

filed an antitrust complaint in Russia regarding the bundling of

Windows Defender Microsoft Defender Antivirus (formerly Windows Defender) is an anti-malware component of Microsoft Windows. It was first released as a downloadable free anti-spyware program for Windows XP and was shipped with Windows Vista and Windows 7. It has ...

with the operating system, arguing that Microsoft was abusing its position to favor its own, in-house

antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. ...

over those of other vendors. In June 2017, Kaspersky filed another complaint with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

, accusing the company of frustrating the use of third-party antivirus software on Windows 10 in defense of its "inferior" Windows Defender, including forcibly uninstalling third-party antivirus software during upgrades, and not providing enough time for antivirus developers to certify their software for each new upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft stated that the company " ngagesdeeply with antimalware vendors and have taken a number of steps to address their feedback", and that they had offered to meet Kaspersky executives to discuss any specific concerns. On June 21, 2017, Microsoft issued a blog post confirming that since the "Creators Update", Windows 10 may prompt users to temporarily disable their antivirus software upon installation of a feature update if the current version is not deemed to be compatible, and that the operating system would direct users to relevant updates to their software following the conclusion of the update. Microsoft stated that it had worked with vendors to perform compatibility testing of their software with the update, and to "specify which versions of their software are compatible and where to direct customers after updating." Microsoft reported that as a result of these efforts, around 95% of Windows 10 users "had an antivirus application installed that was already compatible with Windows 10 Creators Update". Microsoft clarified that Windows Defender only operates if the device does not have any other security software installed, or if security software reports that a subscription had lapsed. In Summer 2018, a Windows 10 Insider update received extreme backlash for a planned feature that would have attempted to prevent the installation of other web browsers, such as Chrome or Firefox, telling users that they already have Microsoft Edge and therefore there is no need to change their browser.

References

External links

{{Microsoft Windows family Microsoft criticisms and controversies Operating system criticisms Windows 10

Antitrust issues

See also

References

External links