Alongside Google, WhatsApp and Facebook, Microsoft is the other company that seems to have a special talent that always gets the Redmont giant in trouble and yields all kinds of criticism. In fact, one of the most powerful and valuable companies in the world became a punch bag lately thanks to its latest (and theoretically last) OS, Windows 10 and its infamous forced updates. Speaking of updates, the next one, the so-called Creators Update, is due in April 2017, bringing new privacy features, something that the community has been long waiting for. Although every new privacy update deserves praise, the new Windows 10 features are still considered to be far from enough, especially by data-protection authorities of the European Union. The EU argues that users are still left in the dark when it comes to the personal data that is processed by Microsoft and for what purpose that information is then used.
Europe is quite strict when it comes to data protection; in fact, it was the infamous WhatsApp case in Germany that ended up forcing Facebook to stop collecting the messaging app’s data in other European nations. More recently, the EU are also proposing new regulations to make online tracking harder in its Member States, so not surprisingly the new Windows 10 privacy tools are considered unsatisfactory. Although last January Microsoft released an update with new Windows 10 privacy settings covering five main areas (location, speech recognition, advertising etc.), all with a corresponding on-off switch, the EU is still skeptical. In fact, Article 29 Working Party, an entity comprising of national data protection authorities, stated that Microsoft needs to clarify the true purpose of the data collection, especially if it’s for advertising purposes.
Despite the above mentioned new privacy tools, which were enough to make a Swiss data protection regulator group ditch its lawsuit against the company, Windows 10 users are still not safe. In fact, until there’s enough proof that your computer is not spying you at all, you have to take precautions in order to reclaim as much privacy as possible.
First of all, spend some time going through your device’s privacy features and tune these to perfection to avoid having any sensitive data gathered and used to other purposes. Also, make sure to have a VPN at your side, as you can disguise your real location by connecting to foreign servers, and you can also encrypt your internet traffic, so no prying eyes can see what you are doing.
Share your thoughts, ask questions, and connect with other users. Your feedback helps our community make better decisions.
©2012-2025 Best Reviews, a clovio brand –
All rights
reserved
