Looks like Microsoft will make Recall opt-in. Seemingly they needed user feedback to figure out that people might not like the idea of them taking a screenshots of their screens every 5 seconds or so.
Security experts also pointed out that this would be a security nightmare. Pretty obvious, really.
This is another example why it is clear Big Tech is not to be trusted to make the right decisions, even when they are staring them in the face.
Desperate to not loose out, they are moving quickly to not be left behind, running blindly ahead without thinking of the consequences.
Long ago I disabled automatic app updates on my phone bc of surprise “upgrades” that stripped out functionality I’d paid for but now require monthly/yearly subscriptions.
Palestinians are under a mass survillance. When a Palestinian's rating rises above a certain threshold, Israeli intelligence officers add them to the kill list.
But #Lavender and Where’s Daddy? are only two parts of a sprawling network of weaponized #surveillance and repression that dominates Palestinian lives.
They use #spyware to hack into phones, maintain a web of cameras at military checkpoints and in Palestinian residential areas, and collect photos and other biometric data. The information they capture about Palestinians living under apartheid feeds the databases they use to train new genocidal technologies.
And what happens in Palestine doesn’t stay in Palestine.
Israel is exporting its cyber technology to repressive regimes around the world. Israeli-made spyware has been found on the phones of human rights defenders, journalists and politicians in India, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, and many other countries.
These stories when #State installs various #spyware such as #pegasus give me not just creepy/eerie feeling.
Such stories questions suitability usage of any electronic device, let it be a linux desktop/laptop or any smartphone, even suc as e/OS equipped, not speaking about standard iOS/Android devices.
And it pushes down motivation for developing any #p2p software as well, just because if your risk model includes government spyware installation on your devices, this is beyond their usage scope.
@koteisaev
I'm hopeful, even confident that #p2p can and will help with device level surveillance such as #Pegasus#spyware one day.
For example, it has been discussed and mitigations proposed on the #Autonomi forum, though not recently. Ideas such as booting from the network using any device, using the secure services it provides and then logging off without leaving traces.
Easier said than done, but something worth assuming for.
NEW REPORT: #Russian and #Belarusian- speaking independent media and opposition activists in Europe targeted with NSO Group's #Pegasus mercenary #spyware.
Collaborative investigation between @citizenlab & @AccessNow:
> disable OneDrive ages ago
> browsing web on side monitor before bed
> main desktop visible on main monitor
> all the icons flash and suddenly have green check marks on them
> wtf
> desktop flashes again
> all green checks gone
> mfw
Heaven for domestic abuse: a new spywaretool just up for grabs. It's like having Pegasus at home. What could possibly go wrong? Microsoft knows most families share their accounts or at least can easily log into eachothers accounts. They just choose to ignore it.
@helma@SuperMoosie Things being "illegal" is not going to hold them back, since GDPR enforcement is weak and slow. It's a typical #MoveFastAndBreakThings action, hoping to have it normalized before Authorities kick in. Then the data exploitation features that make money for Micro$oft will be launched.
Glad I switched, fully, to #Linux a few months ago. I'm not a programmer or techie, and struggled with Linux in the past, but compared to a decade ago, the installation was really easy & it the user interface has improved dramatically.
I am a run-of-the-mill Android-phone-Windows-desktop-Gmail-user but now I'm in the process of transitioning from Gmail and using Duck Duck Go to research how to set up a Linux desktop.
Oh, and also now Signal-curious.
What is this place? Some kind of privacy cult LOL?
"Given that Microsoft has not been able to prevent massive hacks of its servers, this product — which will record everything you do on a Windows PC — qualifies as criminally insane."
-R McNamee
"Satya Nadella says Windows PCs will have a photographic memory feature called Recall that will remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots."
-Tsarathusta
For those who aren’t aware, Microsoft have decided to bake essentially an infostealer into base Windows OS and enable by default.
From the Microsoft FAQ: “Note that Recall does not perform content moderation. It will not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers."
Info is stored locally - but rather than something like Redline stealing your local browser password vault, now they can just steal the last 3 months of everything you’ve typed and viewed in one database.
»New Windows AI feature records everything you’ve done on your PC - Recall uses AI features "to take images of your active screen every few seconds."« 🤦♂️