No, Microsoft is not spying on you with Windows 10

Yes finaly i I new in my heart all along ms was not spying like most people say they are, and really why should i care if they are spying on me as i have nothing to hide, so let them look i could really care less, there are more important things in life to worry about then MS spying on my daily habits if i was as paranoid as most people are about ms i should be just as paranoid about my android phone lol but i guess i'm not like most people.

Tonyb said:

Yes finaly i I new in my heart all along ms was not spying like most people say they are, and really why should i care if they are spying on me as i have nothing to hide, so let them look i could really care less, there are more important things in life to worry about then MS spying on my daily habits if i was as paranoid as most people are about ms i should be just as paranoid about my android phone lol but i guess i'm not like most people.

It's all about data collection and not about spying, these data could be passed on to third parties, that's the main concern for many.

If they wanted to spy on us they could watch us through our televisions

Mark Phelps said:

Wow! One person claims, despite all the wording in MS's own documents, that MS is NOT spying and, surprise, surprise, all the MS "fans" jump on the bandwagon exclaiming -- heay, right!!

Once again, unlike some of those who have claimed MS is spying by citing quotations from MS's own documents, the author of this article simply says there is nothing in there. A simple, cursory reading of MS's documents shows that this author's claim is nothing more than pro-MS smokescreen.

And, once again, another MS fan uses slurs like "tinfoil hat".

Thats exactly right Mark , i knew just by the title of the thread something was just way too obvious with this one lol.

I expected to see quite a few of these pro microsoft threads that are attempting to keep this backlash manageable and i'm surprised it took so long but the overwhelming majority clearly have a big problem with this new OS in regards to privacy .

The privacy issue has exploded all over the net and deservingly so , you have some people who are nervous about everything but those are in a very small minority , the overwhelming majority of the complaints are coming from big and very reputable websites that write and report about computer tech information .

Let the fanboy's have their 15 minutes , they have a ton of work to do if they expect to have any impact on dispelling what is clear to most everyone else.

Contra said:

If they wanted to spy on us they could watch us through our televisions

Actually, that has really happened and been reported on the local news. It tvs with webcams installed on them. Security people recommend that you tape the webcam spot if your tv located in the bedroom or any area you want privacy. I didn't remember "why" it happens I don't remember if the news went into detail on that part.

Well, I've been challenged on a few fronts, even pressed to justify why I am on this forum (which, as far as I know, no one ELSE has been pressed to do!), called someone who demonizes MS (despite never having said anything even remotely like that), and , possibly the most outlandish allegation, told I'm to be pittied because I've never presented any evidence!

I've been asked why I'm here? I came to this forum to be an Insider, to apply some of my decades of experience doing commercial beta testing (including previous versions of Windows) to Win10, to learn as much as I could from other folks using the OS, and to help (where I could) when folks ran into problems that they couldn't solve.

I've been asking if I'm Crusading -- I'm not usually at a loss for words, but I really don't know how to answer this. I'm a combat veteran and saw, first-hand, how innocent folks got caught up in the horror of war, and ever since then, have had a large soft spot for folks I felt were being victimized. So, if I get a little passionate in their defense, I'm sorry for that, but that's me. And, when a leading corporation "spies" on folks, capturing their keystrokes, and content of their communications, including "email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your [sic] documents, photos, or other personal files" (quote from MS Privacy Statement), that sounds to me like folks are being victimized -- so I stand up for them.

One of the folks that also claimed MS was spying was found, after background investigation, to be a conservative Christian fundamentalist who (allegedly) was ranting on about MS being the equivalent of an evil empire. Since I agreed with ONE of the things they said (but not the others), I have been presumed to be "demonizing" MS, as well. This is just plain wrong!

MS did for computing what Carl Sagan did for Science -- brought the "magic" of technology into daily life -- in a way that no one could have previously imagined. Life-saving activities like remote medicine would not even be possible with MS having paved the way for the entire world to be using personal computers in their daily lives. And that's without even going into the untold millions (or is it Billions?) of dollars that the Gates foundation has given away to improve the lives of the poor and suffering. So, if we have rate large corporations by how much they have contributed to the advancement of human lives, MS would have to be at the top, if not very near it. Demonize a corporate like that? NO way I would ever even consider it.

As to presenting no evidence, I've tried to respond to challenges on a point by point basis, citing specific wording from MS's own documents to support my claims, but evidently, that's not enough "evidence" for some folks. I've even gone to the extent of claiming that much of what MS has published is open to interpretation. I've interpreted their statements as admissions that they are collecting information, and while this is done with the consent of Win10 users, it is also done without their knowledge.

The real truth in all of this is that NONE of us KNOW what MS is doing. Their documents give them permission to do a lot of things. So we know they CAN collect keystrokes. We know they CAN collect all those different kinds of information listed in their various documents. We know they CAN provide that information, at least some of it, to (unnamed) third parties. And, we know they can "download software updates ... including those that prevent you from ... playing counterfeit games ..." (MS MSA Section 7).

But, and I will say it again -- we do not KNOW what they are doing.

And finally, much has been made about MS's "lack of interest" in individual lives and their lack of nefarious motives in collecting all this date. And, I have said time and time again -- I don't care WHY they are doing it, I only care THAT they are doing it.

In closing, I am saddened by how this stellar forum, which I literally couldn't wait to log into to join in discussions, has degenerated into name-calling, slurs, and personal attacks. I think it is time for all of this to stop.

I saw the Tenforums as a valuable source of TECHNICAL information at a time when most folks (including me) new little to nothing about this wondrous new OS that MS was building -- and the thought of letting the "great unwashed" (i.e., general public) participate in this adventure for free was all the more exciting.

Since then, we've fallen into the bottomless pit of social discourse -- which, even though the Administator (Brink) closes the threads that degrade into rants, rears its ugly head whenever another MS allegation hits the major media.

What I would LIKE to see on these forums is the following:
1) Creation of a separate forum section for these non-technical topics. Other forums have things like this, and that's where you go to catch up on, or hotly debate, the latest "scoops".
2) A return to treating people respectfully on these forums. If you disagree with my POV-- fine, you have every right to do that. But name-calling and the use of slurs should be prohibited and when done, dealt with harshly -- initial warning and then banning (I know HOW this works, I'm a SuperModerator on another forum)
3) Strong support for what Groze has suggested -- an independent, third-party examination of what information is ACTUALLY being collected by MS, and under what circumstances. As I said in a previous thread, it would be useful to know, of the voice data collection that MS is actually doing through Cortana, WHEN does that collection begin (1) when the mic is first turned on, or (2) when you finish saying "hey, Cortana".

Last point -- I'm going to PM Brink asking that this thread be closed and asking him (?) to think seriously about a separate section for threads like this. Maybe we should call it the "Rant Room!"