"Recall screenshots are only linked to a specific user profile and Recall does not share them with other users, make them available for Microsoft to view, or use them for targeting advertisements. Screenshots are only available to the person whose profile was used to sign in to the device," Microsoft says.
It's conspicuous that this statement talks only about the raw screenshots, not any data derived from them (such as aggregated data, inferred data, or even just slightly reprocessed data). So Microsoft could do any minor reworking of the data and send it off to the cloud for their own purposes, while technically complying with the above.
Remeber when Microsoft banned some Xbox players for screenshots they took in singleplayer, local games? Because it turns out all screenshots were uploaded to the cloud without properly informing users?
Okay this made me turn off copilot. Here is the registry stuff to disable it:
Step 1: Open Run and type regedit to enter Registry Editor.
Step 2: Please go to this path from the left panel.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Step 3: Right-click on the Windows folder to choose New > Key and rename this new key to WindowsCopilot.
create a WindowsCopilot key
Step 4: Select this WindowsCopilot key and right-click on the space from the right panel to choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Step 5: Then rename this newly-added value to TurnOffWindowsCopilot and double-click on it to change its Value data to 1.
Then you can click OK to save it, close the window, and reboot your PC to check if you have uninstalled Copilot from Windows 11.
According to the article, this new tool automatically blocks DRM content, but not sensitive, personal data. It can't possibly mean Microsoft care more about copyright than people's rights... right?
My game’s anticheat software is already using root level permissions to monitor other program’s RAM, my OS might as well have all that data too.
My gaming OS is a malware mess. I don’t use windows for anything else since that’s the only thing it’s good at. I’ll move to Linux once my friends stop playing the games that require Windows only malware anti cheat.
I feel like one day the common practice to combat Microsoft’s enshittification of Windows (besides dropping it altogether) will stop being “download this program and disable all the garbage with registry edits A-Z” to “download this fighting AI that will be in a constant battle with Microsoft’s AI to try and stop it from spying on you”.
At a Build conference event on Monday, Microsoft revealed a new AI-powered feature called "Recall" for Copilot+ PCs that will allow Windows 11 users to search and retrieve their past activities on their PC bosses to even more easily spy on their employees.
Holy fucking nope. I wasn't planning on getting Windows 11 and this serves as a great reminder to make the transition to Linux. I've been thinking of picking up a raspberry pi 5 as my next desktop. Anyone want to share their experiences doing something similar?
Ministry of truth is officially scared about what you know because you have seen it so it maps everything you ever saw and puts it in context to forge a formidable cherrypicked narrative. Leave windows. Go foss.
I'm not so paranoid, but at the same time, will it actually be useful? This sounds like a way to generate a mountain of data with minimal benefit. I don't really trust AI at the moment to be able to help me with some vague recollection of work that was done 3 weeks ago, for example (I go through a lot of cases each month).
There's basically no reason to keep using windows.
Debian or Linux Mint are both easy to install, work out of the box, and the only thing that might take a smidge of effort is the 3 commands you gotta run to install gpu drivers.
Steam proton works incredibly well. I ran my entire steam library (most of which were "windows only" games) and even single one worked with proton as is without issues.
I've been using steam link from my debian box for months now and it's smooth as butter.
It also allows users to search through teleconference meetings they've participated in
I think that this may not be legal for users to have their computer doing in some states. Some states require you to notify the other party before recording phone or videoconference sessions. Maybe if it's not saving audio, it's okay?
EDIT: Yeah, someone on the original beehaw post raised that issue as well.
At this point, I’m afraid to even boot up my windows partition. It’s only there to build windows versions of my software, but maybe that’s not worth it.
At a glance this sounds even more intrusive than it's been with Win10 (and maybe 11?), and sadly it's no surprise as even without AI junk, I think the defaults with Win10 (and maybe 11) are to track your PC use to try to provide some "convenience" features, e.g. display of recently used programs/accessed files when you go to open a new desktop (Win key + Tab).
If they would be more transparent about this and indicate whether and how much of that info, "anonymized/depersonalized" or not, is being taken by them, I think people would still be understandably annoyed but more understanding; at least with an easy opt out or better still, the default being that you must opt in for any of it.
At a Build conference event on Monday, Microsoft revealed a new AI-powered feature called "Recall" for Copilot+ PCs that will allow Windows 11 users to search and retrieve their past activities on their PC.
To make it work, Recall records everything users do on their PC, including activities in apps, communications in live meetings, and websites visited for research.
By performing a Recall action, users can access a snapshot from a specific time period, providing context for the event or moment they are searching for.
For example, someone with access to your Windows account could potentially use Recall to see everything you've been doing recently on your PC, which might extend beyond the embarrassing implications of pornography viewing and actually threaten the lives of journalists or perceived enemies of the state.
Despite the privacy concerns, Microsoft says that the Recall index remains local and private on-device, encrypted in a way that is linked to a particular user's account.
To use Recall, users will need to purchase one of the new "Copilot Plus PCs" powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips, which include the necessary neural processing unit (NPU).
The original article contains 596 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
My powerful laptop with Windows is already waaaaay slower than my older laptop with Linux. How much slower will it be with this nonsense? These people should switch places with the homeless.
Is the AI/copilot integration already rolled out to end users? I haven't seen it myself, but I'm in the EU where it's apparently disabled by default (and I'd like to keep it disabled).
It used to be that all versions of windows were fine. Then Home was a mess and you needed Pro or above to stop being nannied. Now you'll need Enterprise to not be nannied and spied on. The cost is completely worth it.
I do NOT blindly hate windows. It runs software today that existed 30 years ago. I haven't had a real blue screen since my Win98 machine that was upgraded to XP. It just works, it works well, and gives my company life. Linux is a mess comparatively unless you want to tinker. And yes I also daily drive nix machines, and only fan bois don't see how hassle free windows can be comparatively.
The big words are can be. Because out of the box, they're making it worse and worse. I don't have a Microsoft account, local only. And boy do they not like that. Enterprise doesn't force updates at all, I can keep my machine up and running indefinitely like the old days. The only issue I have today with Win11 is the forced task tray "overflow" menu that nobody asked for and nobody wants. Currently no way to disable without hacks, and if it isn't fixed soon then I'll do that.
But this screen shotting malware cannot happen. I know there are many places where it legally cannot happen. Therefore there will have to be a way to disable it or install a version without it. And that's what I'll be getting.
If Microsoft sold a Windows 11 Platinum Edition 3000 for $2000 that just gave you all the knobs like XP and let you shoot yourself, I'd buy it. Totally worth it.