Microsoft backports data slurp to Windows 7 and 8 via patches
We recently mused, half seriously, whether the entire point of the Windows 10 upgrade was to harvest your personal information. With Microsoft suffering from a serious case of Google envy, perhaps it felt it had some catching up to do.
Now Microsoft is revamping the user-tracking tools in Windows 7 and 8 to harvest more data, via some new patches.
All the updates can be removed post-installation – but all ensure the OS reports data to Microsoft even when asked not to, bypassing the hosts file and (hence) third-party privacy tools.
The updates are KB3068708 (“Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry” and mandatory) KB3075249 (“Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7”) and KB3080149 (also an “Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry”, both optional).
The notes explain that diagnostic telemetry data is sent to settings-win.data.microsoft.com. Privacy advocates note that this is hard-coded, so blocking access via the hosts doesn’t work.
The tools relate to Microsoft’s CEIP (‘customer experience improvement program’). Disabling the monitoring tools is complicated, requiring tweaks via both the policy editor, and at application level.
If you’re not bothered by anonymised data being sent to Microsoft (or mobile data caps) then the telemetry elevations probably won’t bother you.
Microsoft’s creepy robo-buddy “contextual operating service”, Cortana – which has caused much of the privacy concerns, even though it’s fairly well explained – remains an exclusive to Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 Phone.
Ghacks has a useful guide on undoing the cheeky telemetry escalation. ®
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Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/01/microsoft_backports_data_slurp_to_windows_78_via_patches/