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Does Windows 10 really include a keylogger?
Here is Ed Bott's take of the matter:
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.
If there were really anything resembling a keylogger in the Windows 10 Technical Preview,
it would be very easy to discover and document exactly what information it's transmitting. I've done a cursory check and can't find anything that matches that description. And I'm certain that researchers in the security and privacy communities would immediately publish details of their findings if they found something through a more thorough search.
I'll update this post immediately if any such evidence turns up. So far, there's nothing.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-youve-got-questions-ive-got-answers/?tag=nl.e539&s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61