{"id":1104,"date":"2017-04-06T09:41:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T16:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2017-05-15T08:18:30","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T15:18:30","slug":"windows-10-data-collection-privacy-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/2017\/04\/06\/windows-10-data-collection-privacy-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 10 data collection — privacy matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Checking and tuning your\u00a0Windows 10<\/strong> settings is highly recommended. I typically do this\u00a0when helping clients upgrade to Windows 10 or set up a new PC. Windows 10 moved many settings from control panels to the Settings app. There’re lots of privacy settings<\/strong>, as I’ve mentioned previously.<\/p>\n

I follow\u00a0news\u00a0about\u00a0how companies collect data from PCs and other devices. This includes Internet Service Providers as well. And the growing list of intelligent personal (digital) assistants (Cortana, Siri, Alexa, Google Home) — so-called intelligent assistance has a price, eh.1<\/sup> \u00a0Typical Privacy Policies<\/strong> offer few options for controlling what data is collected and how that is shared. Few opportunities to opt-out. You need to agree or you can’t use the product or service. But sometimes you can limit how data is shared; so, reviewing those options usually is recommended.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

As a result, PC World’s recent article “Microsoft finally reveals what data Windows 10 collects from your PC<\/a>” is noteworthy.<\/p>\n

There are all kinds of\u00a0new features<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Windows 10 Creators Update<\/a>\u00a0rolling out on April 11, but one change\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0sticks out. Greater transparency about the data that Microsoft collects from your PC.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All too often\u00a0manufacturers and service providers intone that\u00a0collecting diagnostic (or quality-of-service) data<\/strong> helps improve their products and services. Some of this appears reasonable. Some remains mysterious. And occasionally there are stories about excessive or inappropriate data collection (e.g., regarding some children’s Internet-connected\u00a0toys). Or how such data may be stored essentially forever. And security of that data.<\/p>\n

Microsoft published two Technet pages describing the data Microsoft collects from users on the Creators Update<\/strong>. There are two levels of diagnostic data:\u00a0basic<\/a><\/strong>3<\/sup>\u00a0and\u00a0full<\/a><\/strong>4<\/sup>. The information is quite detailed and we won\u2019t get into it here, but if you\u2019re interested, you can find all the nitty-gritty details in those links. Note that while the Basic listing reveals all, the Full listing is a summary of the\u00a0kinds<\/em>\u00a0of data that setting collects.<\/p>\n

Even the basic level can gather quite a bit of info from your PC, though in\u00a0a blog post<\/a>, Windows chief Terry Myerson pledges that \u201cwe only collect data at the Basic level that is necessary to keep your Windows 10 device secure and up to date.\u201d Microsoft still offers\u00a0no native way to turn off Windows 10\u2019s diagnostic collection completely.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At least in the latest Windows 10 Update Microsoft consolidated privacy settings<\/strong> better.<\/p>\n

Instead of a string of screens when you first install the new version of Windows 10, Microsoft is putting all the key privacy settings<\/strong> on one screen. The dashboard you\u2019ll see depends on whether you\u2019re already running Windows 10 on your machine or setting up a new PC for the first time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I am more concerned about data\u00a0collection by major corporations and the many app\/service providers than by the government.<\/li>\n
  2. As well as being aware of how you voluntarily provide data when using any Internet-connected device, or even your landline or cell phone. The recent\u00a0repeal of the FCC’s Internet privacy rule<\/a> is concerning: “The Obama-backed rules \u2014 which would have taken effect later this year \u2014 would have banned Internet providers from collecting, storing, sharing and selling certain types of customer information without those customers\u2019 consent. Data such as a person\u2019s Web browsing history, app usage history and location details would have required a customer’s explicit permission before companies such as Verizon and Comcast could mine the information for advertising purposes.”<\/li>\n
  3. “The Basic level<\/strong> gathers a limited set of information that is critical for understanding the device and its configuration including: basic device information, quality-related information, app compatibility, and Windows Store. When the level is set to Basic, it also includes the Security level information.” [Detailed list follows on that page.]<\/li>\n
  4. Full telemetry level<\/strong> (inclusive of data collected at Basic):\n
      \n
    • Common Data (diagnostic header information)<\/li>\n
    • Device, Connectivity, and Configuration data<\/li>\n
    • Product and Service Usage data<\/li>\n
    • Product and Service Performance data<\/li>\n
    • Software Setup and Inventory data<\/li>\n
    • Content Consumption data<\/li>\n
    • Browsing, Search and Query data<\/li>\n
    • Inking, Typing, and Speech Utterance data<\/li>\n
    • Licensing and Purchase data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Checking and tuning your\u00a0Windows 10 settings is highly recommended. I typically do this\u00a0when helping clients upgrade to Windows 10 or set up a new PC. Windows 10 moved many settings from control panels to the Settings app. There’re lots of privacy settings, as I’ve mentioned previously. I follow\u00a0news\u00a0about\u00a0how companies collect data from PCs and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[108,53,86,48],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer","tag-data-collection","tag-privacy","tag-update","tag-windows-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1115,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}