Privacy issues

Very good Edwin and I don't want to sound pedantic or just plain rude but what if that text message contained intimate or very personal information? That means that some automaton has intercepted information meant for me - in effect reading my personal data whatever that may be - before I even know it is available.
What bothers me is that this happens at all I personally want complete anonymity from anyone or thing else. I don't need a Microsoft product to tell me I have a message - I can actually read it myself.

How would a message get to you without going through someone system?

you send a text it has to go through your phone company to reach you
you send/receive an email it is stored somewhere on a mail server before getting to the recipient

How can an email/text be sent and not be stored somewhere on a server before you get it?

Ok pyramid and Paul now I do accept that my input and receiving has to go through some form of storage relaying system and in my mind that is between me and and that particular system. I just do not see any earthly reason why Microsoft should be allowed to dip into that system and pull whatever data they think or as they say deem to be necessary other than to verify that I am not using their software for illegal purposes.
As far as I am aware that has been the case in the past and why it should be changed now is in my mind not a open and honest way of going about business.
For want of a better analogy say for instance a major road vehicle manufacturer built into their vehicles technology which reported just about everything you do in that vehicle - whether it be breaking the speed limit, what brand of fuel you are using, conversations between you and anyone else in the vehicle - which could be of an intimate nature, to where you have been and how you have got there etc etc back to them - would you be happy - I think not because you would never know how that information is or has been used.

Going onto how the system operates we are being bombarded with how fast it is but just how fast do you want a system to run? Windows 7 acts in an instant for me and from what I saw when I trialed 10 on my Sandy Bridge machine has taken a step back in the GUI retaining a lot of that wretched 8 type panels. I personally found sorting through the different steps to get to simple things that are there in an instant using the Windows button in 7 and frankly it made the system slower. The updates thing is another issue I find highly irritating insomuch that you will have it come hell or high water and who knows what else?

ICIT2LOL said:

I just do not see any earthly reason why Microsoft should be allowed to dip into that system and pull whatever data they think or as they say deem to be necessary other than to verify that I am not using their software for illegal purposes.

To be honest John, you are making some big assumptions....you have absolutely no evidence that they are gathering anything personal, no one does. Remember not that long ago, you accused Microsoft of penetrating your systems and deleting all your stored Windows 7 ISO's? You would be the first and only person that this has ever happened too - its far more likely you simply misplaced them. John, I think you've been caught up in the wave of unfound paranoia about Windows 7/10, and for your own peace of mind you need to step back and think it through a bit.

John, we have all heard of countless stories of email being hacked. That should tell all of us that email is not secure and there is no telling where they may end up. Much like cell phone conversations and text messages. They are wireless communications sent over the open air waves. It is fairly simple to intercept them. I think that anyone who believes that email and cell phone conversations are absolutely private, should reconsider. Microsoft, just like about every other email program, has said they can collect your emails. That does not mean they will and are doing it. Windows Live Mail from way back said the same thing as I recall. As far as I am aware, it has never happened.

A month or so ago, our Fed. Government was investigating an International Drug ring. They had email accounts with MSN in Ireland. A Federal Judge ordered Microsoft to turn over the emails. Microsoft fought the Court Order and won. That should give you some idea of how Microsoft thinks about your privacy. It would have been quite easy for them to turn over the emails and say they had no choice because of the court order. But they didn't. I think that should at least give us all an indication of Microsoft's intentions.

Ok well it seems that I am wrong about Windows 10 and I should be apologising to Microsoft for things that I have assumed. I stand corrected on all counts and seeing that you Colin and Steve are using 10 and that you make those compelling comments it seems that I shall have to commit this thread to the solved basket.

Sad really because this new system has in my mind - what there is left of it - spoiled my main pastime and interest now. I suppose I should have really left the subject well alone in the first instance and just do my own thing as I have been doing albeit not that well because I am not endowed with either the training or specific intuition needed to do even that.

Can I add my two-cents?

With regards email:
We have to distinguish between email providers and email clients. Email providers would be like MS, Google, GMX, Yahoo, AOL, etc. Email clients would be like Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. Clients can handle any email provider and are programs that reside on your system. Clients do not "read" your email.

To compare email with postal mail:
Email is like sending a postcard in the mail, as opposed to a letter in a sealed envelope. When an email is sent to someone, it travels with many "hops" to its ultimate destination (from tens to hundreds of hops). These hops are servers when the message stops and is then directed on. All these servers are managed by people. All these "server management people" have access to everything on their servers. Do they access everything? No. Can they? Yes.

So, unless you have encryption set up with your specific email destination, you are sending postcards.

If you use, say, Gmail, the Google bots comb through your emails looking for keywords which they can use for targeted advertising when you access their email via HTTP (web browser). Do the people at Google read your email? No, but they do have access to them if they wanted. Would your email be shared with someone? Only with a court order.

Bottom line, email is NOT secure, and you should remember that fact each time you send one off.

I have a post here regarding privacy settings in Windows 10 which is pretty thorough:
Solved Unsafe at any circunstance? - Windows 10 Forums
You may find it useful.
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simrick said:

Can I add my two-cents?.

An excellent post, worth not only two cents but quite a substantial amount of dollars :)