The 50GB Privacy Bomb...The nightmare continues...

GTP said:
IMHO, if it comes to Windows in an enabled state probably 70%+ would would keep it enabled.
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True, but the same goes with disabled.

Most people never even look at changing most things, regardless of their default enabled/disabled states.

One can argue, and legitimately, about whether a given feature should be enabled or disabled by default. But no matter where the decision lands, that's how it will remain "forever onward" on the computers shipped with said defaults. This is a battle that cannot be won, as those for and against will argue endlessly about the inherent superiority of their positions and resolution is never reached.
 
www.darkreading.com

Microsoft Alters 'Recall' AI Feature for More Privacy

In response to recent public outcry, Recall is getting new security accouterments. Will that be enough to quell concerns?
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Microsoft is backpedaling, launch will be OFF by default, feature will be locked behind Windows Hello enabled logins, and the files encrypted via that login and associated TPM module.

That all helps, it's not a cure but it's enough of one for me to stop worrying about it for the time being.
 
@Sky-Knight That's just fricking great. That means that Microsoft is just going to sneakily enable it by default later once all the outrage and bad press has died down. The correct response is "We're sorry, due to user feedback, we're removing this feature completely." But I don't know why I expected anything else. Microsoft hasn't gave a rat's ass about their customers since Windows 8 came out. Ever since then it's all about forcing people into subscriptions and showing them ads.
 
sapphirescales said:
That means that Microsoft is just going to sneakily enable it by default later once all the outrage and bad press has died down.
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Recall really is "sugar coated dog **** on a splintery stick."
They backed down due to overwhelmingly negative responses from many people in various fields from security to privacy, but yes, I agree (and so do many others) that it will eventually be enabled by default.
At the moment they are going to disable by default but try to con all and sundry into trying it during the initial setup, either by touting all its "benefits" (minus the privacy and security concerns) or by sneakily having a "save time with Express Setup" option that will enable it along with all their other garbage.

Also, many people will turn it on because they will be curious to find out what it is and what it does - blind to the risk...
 
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Sky-Knight said:
It's already integrated, they call it Siri.

Everyone gets mad when Microsoft does it, Google and Apple have had this junk in their OS's for years.
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Ya, but no, they are literally putting OpenAI's ChatGPT into the OS directly. The difference being, for something like MS Copilot - it's an API/Module/program - wherein Apple is coding it right into the OS's code.. effectively making it "impossible" to see what it's even doing or if it's ever really able to be turned "off".

It is amazing to see how Apple gets to do roughly the same things that get others blasted on the web and media.

A few years back, lots of folks were stating (on this forum as well) - that they like Apple because they support their hardware for a long time. Now, Apple came out and only gave 5 years of minimum support - the worst of the bunch. So, now is everyone going to be switching or was that all just BS? Uh huh! ;)
 
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Sky-Knight said:
Built into the OS or installed as a device driver, it's the same thing.
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No, both functionally and practically, it is a different thing.

Building "software" into the kernel that is largely unknown and isn't required to perform logging or reporting, can't be reasonably inspected, and can't be removed or audited...

... is much different than a device driver that makes function calls through the "proper" protections (not on Ring 0), is logged and audited, and can be removed.
 
phaZed said:
No, both functionally and practically, it is a different thing.

Building "software" into the kernel that is largely unknown and isn't required to perform logging or reporting, can't be reasonably inspected, and can't be removed or audited...

... is much different than a device driver that makes function calls through the "proper" protections (not on Ring 0), is logged and audited, and can be removed.
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That's not how it's implemented, and software in the kernel of an iPhone specifically is identically visible to the hardware modules installed to apply additional hardware functionality... IE device drivers. Which, by the way once the driver / kernel module is inserted that code is "in the kernel".

That's why BOTH are Ring 0. Your perception is different, the reality doesn't align. I understand what you're trying to say though, but this situation isn't the same for mobile devices as it is for general machine based operating systems. Also, there's no essential situation that defines a feature within the kernel itself as being immutable, and uncontrollable.

Though... I do share your expectation that Apple will grant the user no such authorization. But in effect the implementation differences being discussed here just do not matter on smart phones. Unless you're using a 3rd party firmware, this crap is on, it will remain, and you cannot do jack about it.

On the PC however... the game is very different. Even if Microsoft were to bake Copilot into the kernel, we'd be able to disable it thanks to our root access. The task would be harder, but it's not impossible. Is it cleaner to disable a piece of software? Yes... cleaner to disable a driver? Also yes! But thanks to root level access, we can define what ring 0 does, so even if it's in the kernel we can patch it out of the kernel. AV Vendors use kernel patching all the time, as do malware authors.
 
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Mobile operating systems like iOS are preaty nice because are designed with a strong emphasis on sandboxing applications and tightly controlling access to system resources, including the kernel but I prefer PCs because they offer more openness and flexibility for users to customize their system configurations, including modifying kernel components
 
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